


Beyond the Missions

by Batwheelsz350



Category: Star Wars: Rebels
Genre: Action & Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:21:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 75,135
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24031951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Batwheelsz350/pseuds/Batwheelsz350
Summary: As Ezra's powers grow, so does his confusion, anger, and fear. Will it consume him as he moves through each mission, with the hopes of ending the Imperial presence on his homeworld and beyond, or will he be saved by his new family or will he be lost forever? Follow along through seasons 3/4 and beyond.
Relationships: Ezra Bridger/Sabine Wren
Comments: 204
Kudos: 139





	1. Chapter 1

It was just another day in the life of the Rebellion. Various small factions moving about in support of individual missions designed to grow the resistance while simultaneously take from or weaken the Empire in any way possible. Most of these days had Rebels evading capture, and this day was no different as Imperial blaster bolts zoomed through the corridors of another Imperial facility, and members of Rebellion were fighting to maneuver their way to escape. Only, this rebel cell contained members of the infamous Ghost crew.

Ezra was leading the way, his lightsaber ignited in one hand, and his blaster in the other. He moved forward and separated himself from the rest of his crew, attempting to take as much pressure off of them as he could. He was doing well too. His shots were precise, striking down bucket heads with unmatched efficiency, leaving dead bodies in his wake, and his lightsaber movements were crisp and efficient. Whenever a stormtrooper was close enough to be run through, or deflect their shots right back at them, it was done.

Sabine was the next closest to Ezra, and as she continued after him, she sparingly glanced down around at the various piles of dead stormtroopers he'd taken out. She found that she almost couldn't believe this was the work of the same kid who only months ago seemed to struggle to even follow an operation's directive. Yet here he was, leading one. And based on how things had gone up to that point, she had to admit that he seemed to have everything well in hand.

The plan initially had called for her to serve as the second wave of Imperial suppression. To take out any stragglers who might have slipped by Ezra, or somehow managed to slip in between them. The rest of the group followed behind them, making their way through the corridors with their "liberated" cargo in tow. But with the little work that Ezra was leaving behind, Sabine almost felt like she could put her blasters away. It seemed that if she wanted to shoot at something, the only targets would be the dead bucket heads he'd been dropping like bad habits.

Things were going so smoothly that Sabine began to wonder if the plan was moving along a little too easily, and it was because of that thought that she tried to remain on high alert. Plans that went smoothly against the Empire always seemed to die at the point of wishful thinking.

Regardless, she knew that they had to press on and reach the hangar bay, That was where their pickup was supposed to be waiting for them. So, she allowed herself a final glance back to the rest of the crew, and then to Zeb, who was taking up the rear. She was a little envious, as he at least seemed to have something to do, keeping the Imperial troops from flanking their position.

Fortunately, within a few minutes, Ezra reached the hangar bay doors, and once he did, he reached out with the Force to see if he could feel just how much opposition would be waiting for them when they did open those doors. It also gave the rest of the crew enough time to catch back up to him, and by the time they did, Ezra knew they were going to be in for a little more work.

"We need to be ready." He said to the team as they all settled in behind him.

Zeb fired off a shot to deter the advancement of some Imperial troops and then spoke up. "How bad is it?"

"Sabine, I need you to tell us right before you open the door," Ezra said. "Then we toss a miracle behind us, and as soon as the door opens, I want you to toss another one or two into the hangar. You'll need to be ready to shoot as soon as possible too."

"What do you think we're looking at in there, Ezra?" Sabine asked.

"More than fifty would be my best guess." He answered. "We need to get in, lock the door behind us, and clear the bay as soon as we can so that our pickup can land and get us out of here. Zeb, I need you ready to join Sabine and I as soon as your miracle blows. We have to do this all together as quickly as possible."

"Maybe it would be better to find an alternate extraction point." Another crewmate suggested.

"No." Ezra snapped before turning to Sabine. "Have the door ready to open on my mark."

Sabine hesitated for a moment, but then went straight to work, plugging in the necessary codes to unlock the door. However, as she worked, another stormtrooper happened to be brave enough to peek around a corner from behind them and pop off a shot in their general direction. The shot was way off target, and it was more than obvious that he'd merely stuck his blaster around the corner and squeezed the trigger. That happened to be his last mistake.

Ezra scowled as he maneuvered around the rest of the crew and back next to Zeb, and then he reached his hand forward. Not even a second passed before he yanked his arm to the side, and that movement was followed by the scream and immediate thud as the stormtrooper who shot at them was pulled from his cover and slammed straight into a wall. He was down and out, but that didn't seem to be enough to appease the rebel team leader. Instead, Ezra pulled out his blaster and fired, but whereas the stormtrooper's shot was a complete miss, Ezra's was a precision shot, leaving no doubt that this particular stormtrooper wouldn't be around to cause the rebellion trouble ever again.

With the threat neutralized, Ezra returned to the front of the group and noticed the lot of them were just standing there staring at him, and that frustrated him immensely. In his opinion, no one else seemed to be pulling their weight. "Sabine!" He angrily yelled, which caused her to snap out of the trance she seemed to be in. "Is the door ready to open yet?"

"Uh, almost." She answered as she forced herself to focus back on the door control panel, and within a few seconds, she finished unlocking it. "Got it!"

"Zeb, Sabine, be ready to move and lay down some cover fire," Ezra ordered as he readied himself for what was about to take place. "Open it up."

Sabine once again briefly hesitated, but still opened the door just before tossing in a couple of her miracles. The Imperial troopers inside the hangar, however, weren't willing to wait for her bombs to detonate. They opened fire as soon as they saw the intruders through the open door. "It looks like a lot more than fifty!" Sabine yelled over the blaster fire as Zeb, Ezra, and she all returned fire while also taking what little cover they could around sides of the entrance.

They only had to wait a few seconds for Sabine's miracles to detonate, which thankfully caused enough of a distraction for all of the rebels to make their way into the hangar bay. Once inside, Ezra used the force to throw a stormtrooper into the door control panel at a rate of speed high enough to both knock him out and shut the door simultaneously.

Just the sheer number of combatants they had to face seemed staggering, but although they were heavily outnumbered, they took solace in the fact that every one of their enemies was out in front of them instead of completely surrounding them. And Sabine further aided in the assurance that they wouldn't be surrounded by blasting the door panel to bits with a single shot.

Then she turned around, expecting to be in quite the gunfight, but found that Ezra had already charged forward on his own. In fact, if she didn't know better, she might have been led to believe that he seemed to be attempting to get into the very center of all the action without any help whatsoever. Disbelief at his actions shot through her, not wanting to believe that he would be naïve enough to willingly move into what would be deemed a kill zone by any form of combat strategy she could think of. Such areas were meant to be avoided at all cost or you were just asking for death.

But Ezra continued charging forward, deftly dodging or blocking blaster bolts along the way until he was right in the very center of the hangar bay. Sabine's first instinct was to go in after him. He was a part of her crew and had grown into a friend, but she knew the odds, and she'd never survive. She had to have faith that Ezra would be able to make it back out of the kill box he'd wandered into. The best thing she could do was to provide support for the rest of the rebels involved with this mission.

After establishing his position, Ezra was quickly drawing a large amount of fire. There wasn't any cover for him except what little he could make with the use of his lightsaber. In the beginning, that seemed to be enough, but he knew that he couldn't deflect or dodge every blast forever, and he had to make a decision sooner rather than later.

It was at that moment, however, where the solution presented itself to him. He couldn't deflect one specific shot, so he merely stepped out of the way, allowing the bolt to fly past him and right into another stormtrooper. He calculated that if he could use the Force to help "alter" some shots, the Empire would be able to assist him in his effort to thin out the crowd. So, he closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings, and when he opened them back up again, the battle had ended.

Sabine almost couldn't believe what she saw. He moved like lightning. Ezra went through every stormtrooper who fired upon him. It was precise, with no wasted movement at all. Almost as though it was all choreographed, and the Empire's troopers were meant to fall. Either by his blaster, his lightsaber, or friendly fire, they all went down, and Ezra remained standing. Kill box indeed.

"Wow, Ezra." Sabine said as she approached where he was still standing. "You could've saved some for the rest of us you know."

Even though she half expected him to have a snarky or cocky response, she wouldn't have guessed that he'd avoid it the way he did when he responded. "Let's just get the supplies in position to load." He said without even the hint of a smile. "It won't be long before reinforcements arrive."

Sabine opened her mouth to fire back, but thought better of it. Loathe she was to admit it, he did have a point. So she focused on locking out the Empire's forces from being able to access the bay area and then made contact with Hera to let her know they were temporarily secure and ready for extraction. It only took moments for Hera to move the Ghost in and touch down.

As the crew loaded the cargo into the ship, Ezra chose to remain vigilant and ensure that the crew didn't come under fire again. They were so close to completing the mission that he didn't want to leave anything to chance, but fortunately, it didn't take long for the cargo to be loaded.

"Time to go." Sabine said, laying a hand on Ezra's shoulder to halt his patrolling.

"Then you should already be on board the Ghost." Ezra snapped at her.

"I came to get you, di'kut." Sabine fired right back before spinning around and heading back toward the ship.

Ezra's eyes widened momentarily, realizing what he'd done. "Sabine….I" he started to say but stopped when he felt a shimmer. Ezra didn't hesitate, but he still wasn't fast enough as a blast was fired, striking Sabine.

Sabine groaned as she fell to her knees as Ezra reached out with the Force, grabbing the stormtrooper who'd gotten back up despite their injury, and opened fire on the Rebels. With a swift movement of his hand, that stormtrooper flew over to Ezra, only to be met with a saber thrusting into their chest. But as though that wasn't enough, Ezra then pulled the blade and with a swift movement, removed the trooper's head from their body before finally letting go of the corpse.

As Ezra was dispatching the latest stormtrooper, Sabine had returned to her feet. Fortunately for her, the blast ended up striking one of her pauldrons, so she wouldn't have any injuries too drastic to heal from. But she didn't have time to truly assess her injuries after witnessing what Ezra did to the stormtrooper, as the inner door to the hangar bay exploded.

"Spectre's 5 and 6, it's time to go!" Hera called out over the comms, and the two Spectre's raced straight into the cargo bay of the Ghost just as Hera lifted the ship off the surface before turning it and making a quick exit.

Within a few minutes, and after some deft flying maneuvers, Hera and the rest of her crew were safely skating through hyperspace, their mission a success. At that point, most of the crew sighed and let their shoulders droop, finally able to let their guards down. But that ease was short-lived as two members began shouting at one another.

"I had everything under control, Sabine." Ezra yelled in a barely contained rage. "What were you thinking?"

"What was I thinking?" Sabine snapped and stood up to get right into Ezra's face. "What you did was beyond idiotic! You intentionally put yourself at risk by moving right into an obvious kill box."

"What I did was draw the fire away from the rest of the team." Ezra shot right back, refusing to back off from his position. "And I can handle being in a position like that. Others like you can't. You shouldn't have moved over to me."

"If you don't want me to move into ill-advised positions, then you shouldn't go there in the first place!" Sabine countered. "The only reason I was there was to help get you out!"

"And YOU were shot in the process!" Ezra yelled.

"What's going on back here?" Came Hera's voice from the platform above the cargo hold.

Ezra took a couple of deep breaths, trying to rein in his emotions. "I did what I had to do to ensure the mission was a success." He said while still looking directly at Sabine's still visibly angry face. "I knew the risks, and you should have respected that because I was the lead. You were shot because you altered your position instead of following my lead. I did what I did to keep the rest of you all safe, and you compromised that."

Having spoken his peace, Ezra didn't hesitate in spinning around before climbing the ladder and storming past Hera on his way to the cockpit. Hera stayed quiet and waited until he disappeared before turning back to Sabine. "You were shot?"

"My armor took the brunt of it, Hera." Sabine responded, hoping to avoid Hera's concern before it turned into mothering like usual. She was never in the mood for coddling, and that was especially true in this case. At the moment she was still so angry with Ezra that she didn't even feel any pain from the bolt's impact. In fact, she wasn't finished yet with that Loth rat, and if he thought walking away was going to save him, he was sorely mistaken.

Ezra knew who it was before hearing the door to the cockpit slide open. "I don't want to hear it, Sabine."

"Too bad Ezra, because you are going to listen to me." Sabine fired back and stood so that he would have to go through her to get away this time. "I get that you have special Jedi powers and that they can and have helped you come out on top in sticky situations. But I'm a Mandalorian, Ezra. I've been trained in combat and battle strategies ever since I learned to walk. Not to mention the training that I received at the Imperial academy. What you did was stupid."

"Sabine." Ezra interrupted.

"NO." Sabine forcefully said, stopping Ezra in his tracks. "I'm not done. What you did, regardless of the outcome today, was incredibly stupid. You put yourself in the worst possible position in that hangar bay. They could've killed you, Ezra. In fact, they should have. You're a damn Jedi for the love of the Manda. What do you think we would've done if they killed you?"

At that, Ezra's eyes found the floor. He hadn't thought about what would happen if he hadn't made it out. All that mattered was keeping everyone else safe, but Sabine had made a good point. He was able to protect them. This time. But if things hadn't turned out positively, then who would be there to protect his friends the next time? He had to make sure that wouldn't happen. Protecting his friends wasn't going to be enough. He needed to be smarter, faster, stronger. He had to learn even more.

"I'm only trying to keep everyone from getting hurt, Sabine." He said as he stood and walked over to the doorway, and in essence, her. "If you're going to keep following me when you think I've made a bad decision, then I'm going to have to worry even more about you."

"Do I need to remind you again that I'm a Mandalorian, Loth rat?" Sabine said, finally starting to let her anger trail off.

"Well, this Loth rat can't let anyone else get hurt because of me." Ezra replied as he managed to worm his way around Sabine. "I guess I just need to train harder to make sure I can."

Sabine allowed Ezra to leave. She'd gotten what she wanted off her chest. But she didn't need Ezra worrying about her. She didn't want it either. She was a warrior, and he needed to accept that. The trick was how to convince him of that fact.


	2. Chinks in the Armor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ghost crew is coming to grips that their family is fractured, and in need of some TLC.

"He's getting another mission lead?" Sabine asked, not hiding her discontent at the newly discovered information she received during the most recent meeting.

"Well, Sato has taken notice of the success rate on missions where Ezra's been the lead," Hera responded as she headed further into the kitchen, in search of some precious caf after a long and tedious briefing. "And even you have to admit, he's not wrong."

Sabine snorted a little as she crossed her arms and leaned against the kitchen door frame. "It's not the success rate that I have a problem with." She said. "It's Ezra."

"What about him?" Hera asked.

"Well, ever since… you know." Sabine responded with a bit of hesitation before deciding to just plow through her point. "Ezra's been treating the rest of us like we don't know what we're doing, and you know as well as I do that we can take care of ourselves. He talks down to us and takes too much on by himself instead of fighting along with us as a team. If he doesn't get his head out of his rear end sooner than later, then his luck will run out."

"I understand what you're saying Sabine," Hera said, knowing what Sabine was referring to. "But we can't forget that he believes he's responsible for what happened on Malachor. I'm sure he doesn't mean to come off as talking down to any of you, but now he's afraid to lose someone else that he cares about."

"But he dealt with loss so much better before." Sabine pointed out. "I'd be hard-pressed to find someone who could've handled what happened with his parents better than he did. I would've thought he could've handled this too without changing so much."

"Malachor was different though, Sabine." Hera said. "When his parents were taken away, he was just a small child and he didn't know that he had Jedi powers back then either. There was nothing he could have done to save his parents, but with whatever happened on Malachor, he truly believes that he either didn't do enough or made a bad decision that caused harm to Kanan and Ashoka. You should try to keep that in mind too. It might help to understand where his mind is during future missions."

* * *

_Zeb groaned in frustration as the mech droid chirped happily, having come yet another move closer to defeating the furry muscle of the group again at dejarik. He may be a large meat bag, but he was a meat bag none the less, and as such not too difficult to defeat._

_Fortunately for Zeb, his inevitable loss was interrupted as the two women of the Ghost returned to the lounge area from the galley with their dinners._

_"I don't understand why we're still sitting here on the bench." Sabine complained. "There are plenty of other crews heading out, but we've been stuck in a holding pattern for over six months now."_

_Chopper chose that moment to chime in with his opinion, and that temporarily drew Sabine's attention to him. "And what exactly is wrong with wanting to blow things up when it takes a bite out of the Empire?" She said to the little droid in response._

_"You may not think so Sabine, but there has been a noticeable drop in missions all around." Hera explained. "It hasn't just been us. Without Ashoka as Fulcrum, a drop in new information should be expected. We just need to be patient."_

_"A drop sure," Sabine responded. "But not a single mission for us when other teams have still received some here and there? If I didn't know better, I'd think that our inactivity has more to do with certain absent Jedi than the lack of intel. Besides, we've barely seen either of them during our lay off either."_

_"That's not fair." Hera said._

_"It's been over six months, Hera." Sabine continued. "When are we going to get to know what really happened on Malachor? Nothing's been the same for any of us since, and we deserve to know why things have changed so much."_

_"Especially the kid," Zeb added. "He's been making changes all over. Have you seen his new look yet?"_

_"How could I?" Sabine replied. "Haven't really seen him since the day they came back from that planet."_

_"He was heading to our room when I came in here." Zeb said. "Maybe he's still there.."_

_"Well, if he is, then maybe I can get some answers out of him." Sabine replied before leaving her untouched meal for the personal quarters._

_"Sabine." Hera called out but knowing that any response would only fall on deaf ears. For when the teenage Mando girl had her mind made up, there was nothing that could stop her._

_Once she arrived at Ezra's room, she found that he'd locked the door. So, in her short-tempered, Mandalorian way, she began to aggressively pound on the door. At first, there was no response, but she was relentless. She wanted to know what happened that had fractured her team, her family. She wanted them all to get back together and start taking it to the Empire again._

* * *

After a few minutes of thumping on the door, finally, it slid open, but she was still in mid-swing when it did. And with no door to halt her momentum, her fist continued forward until a hand snatched her by the wrist.

Sabine's eyes widened when she finally registered what she saw, or rather who. Zeb hadn't been kidding when he mentioned Ezra having a new look. Gone was the long, floppy hair, replaced with a short, buzzed cut almost fitting for a soldier. He had definitely grown too. Now he looked like he could be an inch or so taller than her, but what caught her by surprise the most was that he wasn't as scrawny anymore. Whatever he'd been up to, strength training was clearly an integral part of his regiment.

Eventually, her eyes did make it back to his face, and it was then that she realized she'd been ogling one of her crewmates. In fact, she was pretty sure she'd even licked her lips as if she were anticipating something delicious.

"What is it, Sabine?" Ezra said, getting tired of waiting on her to speak up.

"Uh…" She initially stumbled, trying to regain her composure, but she couldn't seem to get her voice to obey her.

Ezra stood there in silence for another moment or two, but then his patience began to wear thin. He'd been listening and learning from the Sith Holocron in preparation for his next mission, and he wasn't going to lose anyone else like he did with Ashoka. He wouldn't let anyone get hurt again because of him either like with Kanan. With the help of the Sith Holocron, he'd already learned so much and could feel his power had grown exponentially.

It was only a matter of time before he'd be strong enough to protect everyone he cared about, but these interruptions couldn't continue if he wanted to accomplish his goals. Sabine was obviously tongue-tied, and he had more to learn. So he around in his room, his hand moving to shut the door behind him.

Sabine saw what Ezra was about to do, and knew if she didn't say anything, it would be her fault that she didn't get the answers she wanted. "What…what happened?" She blurted out.

Upon hearing her question, Ezra stopped abruptly, allowing the door to remain open. He knew what she was asking, but how would he be able to tell her that it was all his fault? Kanan, Ashoka, all of it. He knew what she would say. It would be the same thing anyone would say. That it wasn't his fault. That there wasn't anything he could've done. Back then that was the case, but now? Now he was stronger, he'd trained harder, and he'd learned more than ever before.

"Still with me, Sabine?' Hera asked, having moved closer to the teenager after Sabine seemed to be stuck in silence.

Sabine snapped back quickly from her thoughts as soon as Hera placed a concerned hand onto one of her shoulders. "I get it Hera," She said. "But I still think someone needs to knock some sense into him, and I'd like to be first in line for that task."

Hera cracked a small smile but knew she shouldn't encourage her teenage Mandalorian. "I…don't think that will be necessary, but you have my word that I'll speak with Ezra, and try to get him to tone it down on the ill-advised maneuvers going forward as soon as we get back from our next mission."

"What kind of mission," Sabine asked. "And shouldn't the mission lead be here to go over the details?"

"It's a supply run," Hera answered simply. "And no, Ezra isn't taking the lead on this one. His mission isn't taking place until after we return. But we still should go over the details when everyone else is here. So why don't you hunt down the boys while I fetch Zeb and Chop."

Sabine exited the Ghost, already having a pretty good idea where to find their two Jedi. Kanan and Ezra were usually in the same place that they'd been going to ever since Malachor. Sabine found Kanan first, exactly where she anticipated. He was just outside the Ghost, meditating with those little dokma creatures. While Ezra was a lot farther away from the ship, training like every day since he'd returned from Malachor.

Fortunately for her, the krykna kept everyone within the base's perimeter, so Ezra could only be out so far. But with Ezra's added training and the fact that he already had a knack for connecting with other creatures from early on, she believed it was only a matter of time before he figured out how to connect with the eight-legged monsters too.

The closer she got to Ezra's training spot, the more she could see of him being fired upon by multiple different training droids. He was jumping around, spinning, evading and deflecting shots with his lightsaber, but just as she reached his training area, the droids suddenly stopped firing. Then they levitated off the ground before being crushed by seemingly nothing, and with a swift move, Sabine was caught off guard when Ezra's laser sword was pointing directly at her throat.

"Sneaking up on me?" He asked as soon as he realized who it was that had interrupted his training session.

Not one second after Ezra powered down his lightsaber did Sabine throw a punch straight for his jaw, snapping his head violently back, and causing him to stumble before eventually regaining his balance. "What the hell, Mir'osik?" She angrily asked.

"You came up to me from behind," Ezra argued in defense. "What did you think would happen?

"I expected you to use your brain." Sabine explained.

Ezra wanted to respond, but it seemed like everything he'd been doing or saying these days seemed to only piss off those he was closest to, and especially so for his fiery Mandalorian friend. "What did you need?" He asked, cutting to the point instead.

Sabine hesitated to answer at first, as she was still angered at having a lightsaber pointed at her throat. A single punch to the face hadn't done much to calm her yet, but, she did have a reason for being there. If she told him now, she could leave, and that suited her just fine. "Hera wants everyone aboard to go over the missions that have been assigned." Sabine answered, and then turned to head back to the Ghost, not caring if Ezra followed or not.

What a jerk, she thought as she made her way back to the Ghost. In fact, she would almost prefer it if he went back to the constant, annoying flirting that he used to resort to whenever he was close by her. Almost anything would be better than this new version of Ezra. It wasn't hard to recognize or even understand how he might feel guilty. What with Kanan's injuries and Ashoka's apparent death, who couldn't. Survivor's guilt could do a great disservice if one allowed it.

But what Ezra was doing, what he was still putting himself through seemed excessive to say the least. He was turning himself into a completely different person, and this new Ezra was someone she found herself not wanting to be around. So, she decided that it would be best to put some distance between him and herself for a bit. If it wasn't mission-related, she was going to start giving him a wide berth.

"Were you able to find Kanan and Ezra?" Came Hera's voice after Sabine entered the Ghost's lounge area.

"Kanan hasn't come in yet?" Sabine answered. "I found him before I went after Ezra. He should've already been here."

Hera grumbled something that Sabine couldn't quite make out, but sounded something like "I wish he'd stop pulling away," before she turned back to Sabine. "And Ezra?"

"Right here." The boy in question answered for her, having just joined the crew.

* * *

The mission hadn't been too bad all things considered. There were no complications to deal with, which made it easier for Sabine to avoid Ezra for the most part. She was pleasantly surprised during the mission when she realized that he didn't seem to have any inclination to doing much in the way of making it difficult for her to keep her distance from him. He hadn't even tried approaching her one time to talk or help with carrying some of the heavier crates onto the ship. Still though, even with the physical distance between them, Sabine's thoughts remained somewhat fixated on Ezra and his recent behavior. His silence toward her was just one more item to add to the list of things that troubled her about her friend.

Ever since she'd met him, Ezra would've gone out of his way to strike up some sort of a conversation with her, even at the expense of putting his foot into his own mouth in the process. In the past, she wondered if he simply loved to hear his voice, but eventually she realized that the root of her annoyance with him came as a result of Ezra not really having the luxury of a lot of friends growing up. After all, he'd been on his own for most of his life before he met the Ghost crew, and it was likely that casual conversations were foreign to him.

As soon as the Ghost touched back down at Chopper base, Sabine met Zeb and Ezra in the cargo hold, and when the ramp lowered, they each began the lengthy process of unloading the newly acquired supplies. As they emptied around half of the cargo, Sabine realized that Ezra had stopped assisting the rest of them and disappeared on them.

Zeb didn't take long to notice either as he groaned and stretched his back. "Can't blame the kid for skipping out on unloading the rest of the supplies. Seems like that's all we do anymore. Can't believe I'm saying it, but I'd rather be facing some bucket heads than this."

"The crates aren't too heavy for you, are they big guy?" Sabine teased.

"We'll get back to missions where we have to engage the Empire again before you know it," Hera added as she joined them with yet another crate. "But you can't lose sight that even these supply missions are important to the cause."

"I know, I know Hera." Zeb conceded, not wanting to be lectured on the importance of providing supplies.

"Let's just get the rest of the crates off the ship, and then we can call it a day." Hera said as she headed back for another crate.

Zeb and Sabine trailed after her, and within the hour, they finished unloading all of the supplies. So with their tasks completed, Zeb made his way to the mess in search of food while Sabine went along with Hera to detail the mission report to Sato and the other leaders of their Rebel cell.

Along the way, they happened upon Kanan off to the side of the base, still, in the same kneeling position Sabine had found him in before they left. Hera paused for a moment, as she briefly thought about going over and speaking with Kanan, but he'd been so distant with every member of the Ghost crew for such a long time. She wished that he would believe he could still be useful to the cause, but each time she tried to talk to him about it, he would simply walk away. And she eventually got to the point where she couldn't continue putting herself in that position. She just had to wait until Kanan worked through his own insecurities.

Sabine happened to notice Hera's hesitation, and she instantly knew the cause behind it. Hera had thought about trying to talk to Kanan again, and that notion saddened Sabine. It was more evidence that her family was falling apart before her very eyes. She didn't know what she could do to fix it, but she wasn't about to stand idly by and let it happen.

First, she was going to help with a subtle push to get the parental figures of the crew moving forward again. "Any idea on when Kanan will be coming back on missions again?" She asked.

Hera stopped in her tracks upon hearing Sabine's question. She paused for a moment, and then looked over her shoulder to answer. "I don't know." She said with a sigh. "I wish I did."

"Ever thought about talking some sense into him like a Mandalorian?" Sabine half-joked.

"What, with a blaster?" Hera asked. "I'm not sure that would be a good idea against a Jedi."

"Well, something's got to happen to wake our Jedi crewmates up." Sabine said. "Maybe there's some sort of Jedi intervention we could set up for them?"

Hera actually chuckled at Sabine's suggestion. She couldn't even recall the last time she'd cracked a smile, and it seemed to take a large weight off of her shoulders. The answer as to what to do with Kanan and Ezra was still elusive, but for the first time in a long time, it didn't feel completely hopeless. They'd figure out what to do to make the crew whole again, and they would do it together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I truly appreciate the kudos and reviews. I'm hoping as the story continues, I'll get a little more reader participation in the review section. I will admit that reviews do keep me motivated, and I hope this story is enjoyable as we continue to explore Ezra's brief fall into the Darkside.
> 
> Up next, Sabine works on how to get through to the old Ezra before he's completely gone forever.


	3. Chapter 3: Stuck in the Past

"Alright everyone," Rex announced to the group of rebels in front of him. "For the afternoon portion of this rotation, we'll be pairing off and working on hand to hand combat. I want to see the strengths and weaknesses from each of you. Then we'll be better able to determine where you will be best suited. Dismissed."

Sabine and Ezra glanced at each other for a moment, both with the same question on their minds. "Hey, Rex," Sabine called out for the both of them and grabbing the Rebel Commander's attention. "Is there something else we maybe should do instead of being tested again? I mean, you've already seen the both of us a handful of times, and should already know where we fit in."

Rex stopped in front of the two teens, his arms behind his back. "I do have something in mind for the two of you." He said, cracking a half-smile. "I'm going to have you both there as a sort of litmus test for the other recruits. With the two of you sparring against the other recruits, we'll be able to get a better idea of whether they are better equipped for missions that involve evasion from combat where applicable, or a more straight forward approach."

"What do you mean?" Ezra asked.

"Well Ezra, what I mean is that with Sabine's training as a Mandalorian along with her brief stint with the Imperial Academy, she's better equipped for brute force when it comes to hand to hand combat. While you, on the other hand, with having minimal training in that sort of combat, you're better equipped to evade than taking on an enemy head-on."

"Hey!" Ezra yelled, quickly becoming angry by the slight of his fighting ability. He'd been training harder than anyone ever since the incident on Malachor. He had grown stronger every day, and not only with his Force powers. He could also feel his physical strength growing as he continued to grow. He'd only been trying to survive before, but ever since he'd joined the Ghost crew, he'd been learning hand to hand combat as fast as he could, and he was leaps and bounds ahead of where he used to be.

"I didn't mean for you to take it personally, Ezra." Rex said, backpedaling slightly after realizing he'd upset the boy. "Your fighting style is just different, but that's not a bad thing."

"But are you really going to be able to gauge these new recruits against us if we're all going to be paired off?" Sabine asked.

"We will be pairing off." Rex confirmed. "Four pairs of two, but we won't be specifically maintaining the pairs the whole time. There will be rotations going on where each of the individuals will end up facing off against you, Sabine, and you Ezra before the end of the night. Plus, we'll only go until someone gains control over their opponent. That way, hopefully no one will get too tired everyone's faced off against each other. We'll also be utilizing some protective gear to help mitigate any possible injury."

Not feeling that Rex's explanation made it any better, Ezra stormed off with a huff. He didn't believe he needed to sit there and be torn down. He'd already done so much in the name of the Rebellion, and as such deserved some respect. He knew that he could fight, and even more so now than before. He'd already been in a number of fights and always came out on top. It was just that before, he'd always preferred to avoid a fight if possible. After all, it was always better to outwit the bucket heads than take them head-on because where there was one bucket head, more were surely close by. Now though, he knew he could take the Empire's soldiers head-on, and Rex was just speaking nonsense. Well, he was certainly going straighten out Rex's misconception when he returned for the hand to hand sparring session, and Rex would be apologizing by day's end.

Sabine on the other hand, immediately knew where she wanted to go. A good meal would go a long way before that afternoon's training session, and so she made her way straight to the mess hall. While the available options were typically slim, what was available was still delicious. Plus, she appreciated how Chopper base was always stocked with caf at the ready.

Setting down her tray, Sabine was about to dive in when she was interrupted by someone clearing their throat across from her seat. "Excuse me." They said. "You're Sabine? Sabine Wren, right?"

Sabine internally sighed before looking up. So much for enjoying her meal in solitude, she figured. At least until she could successfully rebuff yet another attempted advance toward her. And to think she was actually looking forward to the rest of the day. "Yeah, the last time I checked."

"I, I'm sorry to bother you during your lunch," The young man started before having to swallow a nervous lump in his throat. "But I've been wanting to kind of expand my knowledge, specifically with other forms of firepower."

"And who told you to come to me?" She asked, trying to move the conversation along. Why couldn't this guy just hit on her like the others and get it over with? That was the only downfall of the Rebellion's continued growth for Sabine. New recruits meant new guys who would find her attractive and think they had a chance even when they didn't. She wasn't in the Rebellion to find romance, she was there to help overthrow the Empire.

"Well, you see…." By the Manda, and now he was starting to fumble through simple speech. At the rate this guy was going, she'd be lucky if her lunch was still warm. She then set her silverware down and met this guy in the eyes, and while she was frustrated with this guy, at least he wasn't too bad to look at. And when she did make eye contact, that seemed to urge the guy on. "I was told that when it came to explosives, you were the person to talk to."

"Don't you think that blaster knowledge should come first?"

She was hoping that she could temper this guy and send him to someone else, but her suggestion only seemed to make his confidence grow, as a half-smile sprouted on his face, and he sat down across from her. "Nah." He quickly responded. "I've got that more than covered on my own."

"That's a pretty bold statement."

"I don't think so. Not if you consider that blasters have been a part of my family's history for generations." He answered. "As a matter of fact, if I didn't know pretty much everything there is to know about all kinds of blasters, I'd probably get disowned."

"Seriously?" Sabine asked in mild surprise at such a statement.

"Well yeah. Back on my homeworld, my family is well known for our collection of blasters. We even have a few from back in the Old Republic days, and some that are still capable of being fired."

Sabine had to admit, this guy had managed to pique her interest a little with his family's supposed history. And, so far, he hadn't come across as trying to flirt with her, which was another plus in his case. "So, you should know enough about blasters then, but why the interest in explosives….umm, I'm sorry. I guess I never caught your name."

"It's Gavyn." The boy answered. "Gavyn Tanau. And as for why do I want to learn about explosives? It's more like a logical next step for me to expand my knowledge as much as I can. Then when I do start going out on missions, I can be of more help in any given situation."

"Fair enough." Sabine replied, buying his justification for the moment, and then an idea to test him a little on his story came to mind. "I'll make you a deal. If you will help me with inventorying a few crates of blasters that arrived this morning, once we're done, I'll certainly give you some good input on explosives that will help make you dangerous."

"Great!" Gavyn excitedly responded before coming back down from the initial high of knowing he was going to learn from the best explosives expert the Rebellion had to offer. "But I should let you get to your lunch. I'm sure that you're hungry and I've monopolized enough of your time. And, sorry again for interrupting your lunch."

Sabine was hungry and did want to eat her lunch. But as Gavyn started to rise from his seat, she decided it wouldn't hurt to have some company. Besides, she was honestly interested in hearing about some of this blaster collection Gavyn claimed his family had, and especially if it turned out to be true. "Wait." She said, getting him to stop in his tracks. "Why not stay here and eat with me? We can head over to the cargo area after we're done eating and get a jump on those crates."

Gavyn smiled in appreciation at being invited to stay and have lunch with Sabine. Before he worked up the nerve to approach her, he'd been told by more than a few other Rebels that she was unapproachable. No one had seemed to break through to her yet. But he thought that all one needed was to have a common interest with her to help jumpstart a conversation. Just like anyone, she had her interests, and likely just wasn't the type to mince words. She was likely just an introvert.

Gavyn and Sabine ate in companionable silence for the most part, but she did occasionally make a few comments here and there around weapons, and the shipment they were going to inventory shortly. As she finished her meal, Sabine had to admit that she did enjoy Gavyn's company. Nothing in their conversations felt forced, and best of all, there were no lame pickup lines to ward off. She even found that she was quickly becoming cautiously optimistic that Gavyn could become a good friend to talk to.

Wanting to get a jump on things, they both took their trays back to the cleaning area and then headed off to start the identification and designation for the Rebellion's new weapons. Sabine knew that it couldn't wait much longer or AP-5 would get ahold of them, and then she'd never know what all they received. While AP's inventorying was indeed accurate, it was also infuriating when it concerned any kind of battle strategy organization.

But while Sabine and her new acquaintance were headed for the yet to be inventoried crates, another person was standing stock still in the line to receive their food. And he actually hadn't moved an inch from the very moment his eyes first came across the Mandalorian with her new "friend", who just happened to be following her like a lost baby domesticated Loth-cat.

He probably would have remained in that position were it not for the hungry Lasat directly behind him in line. An elbow to the side and the grumbling of his roommates' stomach was enough to get him to move forward in line once again, but as he did, his hands began to clench into tight fists, and he started grinding his teeth as well.

And those two things didn't go unnoticed, as Zeb was easily able to follow Ezra's line of sight. It didn't take but an instant for him to decide to pick on the kid a bit, just like always whenever an opportunity presented itself. "Looks like you might have a little competition there, kid." He prodded. "Not too hard to understand why she'd be interested. Even I can see why she'd think that guy is easy on the eyes."

"I'm not that bad looking." Ezra argued.

"Unless you compare yourself to him that is." Zeb continued with a chuckle. "You'll definitely have your work cut out for you if she's interested in that guy."

"Whatever." Ezra grumbled. He thought about saying something more but knew that would only encourage Zeb to keep going. He'd already heard more than enough from Zeb, so he stepped out of the waiting line, spouting off an excuse of "I'm not really hungry" before stomping off.

Zeb initially raised a hand to stop Ezra, realizing that he might have pushed things a little too far for the kid. He'd known for some time that the subject of any kind of romance with Sabine was always a sensitive issue for Ezra, but he'd always given him a hard time before and Ezra took it well. The only difference he could think of in this instance was that another there was another prospective suitor, and he looked like he might be making progress.

He didn't really think anything of it though until after Ezra stormed off. That was the first hint of Sabine showing any potential interest in someone, and he knew that Ezra always had not so subtly hoped it would be him one day. So, the knowledge that it might not be would certainly be disheartening, to say the least. Zeb figured he would have to make it up to the kid in some way for adding to that heartache, even if it wasn't intentional.

Ezra went straight to his quarters on the Ghost, knowing that Zeb wouldn't leave the mess hall before he finished his meal, which meant he'd have some privacy. It would give him enough time to get in a little time with the Sith Holocron before meeting back up with Rex for the group sparring session. He didn't waste any time, reaching out to the Holocron, causing it to float in the air before opening up.

"It's not fair!" He yelled in frustration. "After all I've done, she still only sees me as a sidekick! She's even giving that new guy a chance while I get nothing."

"Your friend believes you are not strong enough." The Holocron replied. "If you show her your full power, she can become yours. Displaying power will attract others to you."

"What should I do?"

* * *

Sabine's mood quickly went south as soon as she cracked open the first crate of weapons the Rebellion received. She didn't do anything to hide her disappointment either as she tossed the lid to the crate off to the side in disgust. "This is just our luck."

"I'll say." Gavyn agreed. "I thought the crate supposed to have KX-60 blasters, but these are ACP Repeaters. They're not a very reliable weapon. They even had to have extinguishers built into them for when they inevitably overheat. These aren't going to do much good for the Rebellion."

"Exactly," Sabine responded. "I'd even settle for some E-11 blasters that the bucket heads use over these."

"These are just Trandoshan trash." Gavyn said. "We'd be lucky to break even if we tried to sell it to them, but I think that would be our best bet. If we have to use these against the Empire, all it's going to take is getting pinned down during battle, and sooner or later, these blasters will fail on us. We might as well surrender instantly if we have to rely on these."

"Let's just hope the rest of these crates don't have any more of these blasters or this will be the quickest inventorying I've ever done." Sabine said. "I'll just put the lid back on, and order for these to be returned."

But fortunately for the Rebellion and Sabine's peace of mind, the remaining two crates did have KX-60 blasters that she was hoping for. While KX-60 blasters were standard issue in essence, at the very least they wouldn't sporadically overheat and fail on the Rebels during combat.

Gavyn seemed to know quite a bit about all of the intricacies of the KX-60, and he was more than willing to share his knowledge with Sabine. While he hadn't really told her anything that she didn't already know, she did take comfort in the fact that he had backed up his claim of being somewhat of a blaster expert.

They even took a couple of the rifles with them to a firing range, and the entire time he regaled her with stories about his family and how they'd acquired some of the more valuable pieces of their blaster collection. The most impressive to her was when he mentioned his family having a P-7 Military Enforcer and an A-60 Elite Stealth Saboteur, but she had to wonder if perhaps he was being completely honest when he said that both weapons were still in full working order. After all, these weapons were used during the times of the Old Republic or during the Cold and Galactic Wars.

The only time that she felt his intentions might not have been completely innocent was when he briefly invaded her personal space when she took her turn firing one of the new rifles. That was when Gavyn moved in directly behind her and physically adjusted her stance a bit. But as soon as he did, he then backed away, allowing her to fire again. To her surprise, the changes he made to her stance did increase her accuracy quite a bit.

It was then that Sabine decided she should take him aside and begin showing him some things about explosives. Gavyn absolutely lit up when she began explaining some of her more unique designs and how she assembled her miracles. He absolutely soaked up everything she had to share with gusto and was anxious to learn more from her whenever she had the time.

The only downside to her new enjoyable company was that it seemed to make time fly for them. She'd barely been able to get through the basics before they had to head back to the training room for Rex's next round of training. Since they were already together anyways, Gavyn and Sabine chose to head to the training session together, walking side by side.

When they reached the training area, Sabine quickly noticed that they were the last to arrive, and Rex made it known that he was aware of it too as he shouted over the other training Rebels. "Glad you two decided to show up."

Sabine ducked her head a bit upon the subtle verbal lashing. Normally she was the first to arrive for any training session, and she was certain Rex's verbal reprimand wouldn't be the last she heard of it either. For the moment though, Rex seemed to let it go as he quickly paired everyone up before moving onto the first pairing of Ezra against Lissa Manall.

The sparring session started off slowly as the two circled each other at first, but soon enough Lissa moved in with a swinging hook that Ezra easily parried before stepping forward and throwing a stinging open-handed strike to her body. His strike sent Lissa stumbling back while simultaneously trying to regain her breath, but Ezra didn't seem to be in a charitable mood. He immediately moved in, and before she knew what happened, Lissa was thrown unceremoniously to the floor with a thud that ended Ezra on top of her, pinning her down.

"That's the match," Rex called out. "Good job Ezra. Nice aggressiveness. And Lissa, the reason I put you up against Ezra was so you could see that charging in won't always give you an advantage. By charging in the way you did, you left yourself vulnerable, and Ezra took advantage of that with his counter. You have to have a plan, and keep your guard up at all times."

"Understood, thank you, sir." Lissa said as Ezra offered a hand to help her to her feet.

"Alright, let's start with the next pair." Rex called out before assigning Sabine to go up against Cerra Haruss.

And that was how the evening progressed. Rex would select a pair of Rebels to spar, and he would observe until there was a clear-cut winner. Both Ezra and Sabine had faced off against the girls, with Wini Shif putting up the best fight against Sabine and Cerra giving Ezra the most trouble. They'd both also faced off against one of the young men as well. Sabine once again made short work of her opponent in besting Orar Aver, but Ezra also performed admirably against his opponent in Valsi Dara.

Ezra and Sabine were able to get some rest between each of their sparring matches when the new recruits faced off against each other as well. They had whittled down to the last of the few pairings when Rex called for Ezra to face off against Sabine's new friend, Gavyn Tanau. Gavyn had fared well against Sabine for a while before she found an opening to exploit, which brought their match to an abrupt halt. To his credit though, it was one of the longest sparring sessions Sabine experienced that evening.

But now it was Ezra's turn as he and Gavyn waited for Rex to announce the beginning of their match. As soon as Rex said "Go!", Ezra instantly leapt forward with an unrelenting attack. Initially, he had to block a counter from Gavyn, but that didn't deter his aggression at all as he began to break through Gavyn's defenses with an alternating attack. He started off with body shots but then add in a sporadic uppercut or a hook to the head. And just when Gavyn was beginning to successfully block Ezra's attack was when Ezra changed tactics again, going to more kicks and knee strikes.

It felt longer, but in reality, Ezra dropped Gavyn to the ground in just under two minutes. That wasn't enough for Ezra though. He wanted to show everyone that he wasn't weak when it came to fighting. He wanted to show Sabine that he was strong. So he chased after Gavyn to the ground, quickly getting into full control before he began to drop razor-sharp elbows right past Gavyn's defenses.

After the third elbow directly to Gavyn's head, Rex stepped in to pull Ezra off before he did some real damage. Unfortunately for him, as soon as he did grab hold of the young Jedi, he was met with a punch to the face.

Ezra instantly realized his mistake and backed down immediately after he made contact with Rex's face. "I…I'm sorry Rex." He said. "I didn't hear you say it was over."

Rex dusted himself off and rubbed his cheek with one hand. It was a good, powerful shot that he ate from Ezra, and while a part of him was upset, there was another part of him that was actually proud of the power behind Ezra's blow. But still, there was the issue of Ezra taking things too far. "I think that's enough for this evening." He said, dismissing most of the group. "Tanau, get yourself to the med bay and make sure you weren't seriously hurt. Ezra, you need to come with me."

As Ezra quickly followed Rex out of the training area, Sabine crouched down next to Gavyn, who was still trying to pick himself up off the ground. "You alright?" She asked while extending a hand.

Gavyn groaned a little as he got into a seated position. "Yeah." He eventually said. "I'll live."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Sabine said. "Ezra was a little more aggressive than I've ever seen him before."

"Heh, I'll say." Gavyn agreed. "I don't know what happened. It was like he was all over the place. I couldn't even land a single shot against him."

"Yeah, I'm not sure what happened there either. I mean, you definitely did better against everyone else. Maybe he just saw something in your defense to take advantage of." Sabine said. "Anyways, we'd better get you to the med bay. Even with gloves and protective gear, it looks like Ezra did a number on you."

* * *

"What happened back there, Ezra?" Rex asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the others. "I already saw what everyone could do against Sabine's fighting style, and I wanted to see how they did against yours. But what you did out there this evening wasn't your fighting style at all, and especially so against Tanau."

"Maybe that is my fighting style now, Rex." Ezra fired back. "I'm not the same little kid anymore, and I'm getting tired of being treated like I am. Rebel Command noticed enough to let me take the lead on some missions, so why can't you?"

"I know you've grown Ezra," Rex argued. "We've all seen how hard you've worked, and the fruits of that labor. But your greatest strength in combat is still evasion. It's your natural ability. You've always had a knack for it, and while it's always a good idea to turn weaknesses into strengths, it's just as vital to continue building upon your strengths as well."

"And you could've really hurt Gavyn today." Rex explained. "I don't know what came over you, but you need to get a grip on it. Pronto."

With that, Rex dismissed Ezra, leaving him absolutely steaming in the hall. What was it with everyone lately? Why did they all have to constantly question his abilities? And whenever he tries to prove to them just how wrong they are about him or his abilities, then they're telling him that he's taking things too far, or he's taking too many chances on missions. Why did his every step forward in gaining power seem to not go the way he wanted? He was better, older, more experienced, and stronger than he'd ever been. His friends needed to accept it as truth because it was true, and they needed to open their eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the longer than expected wait on the latest chapter, but I was struggling to squeeze everything into this chapter that I had in my outline for it. I suppose sometimes that just doesn't work out. I'll try to get the next installment done a little quicker than this time, but I want to make sure I'm okay with how the chapter flows before I submit it. Thank you so very much for the kind words. Keep them coming.


	4. Chapter 4: Coming to a Head

Ezra ran around the corner of a hallway, pausing briefly so that he could turn and fire his blaster at the lone Stormtrooper who'd chased him from his post. With his pursuer was temporarily taken care of, he leaned against the wall and let out a sigh of frustration. Why couldn't a single mission go as planned?

He never used to care about added complications before. On more than a few occasions, he was even the cause behind unplanned complications, but that was before Malachor. Ever since then, he'd learned that missteps could very well lead to someone getting hurt or dying. He now knew better than to goof around and just believe that everything would turn out alright.

He was admittedly angry about the current situation, but that was because it was supposed to be a simple data spike upload at a lightly guarded Imperial facility. He wasn't in charge of this mission, because he wasn't thrilled with a good portion of the selected personnel he was stuck with. In his opinion, they were all too green, and apparently even for the simplest of missions, it seemed, because now he was going to have to save all of their asses.

First, he needed to determine where everyone was, starting with the mission leader as he enabled his comm. "Spectre five, we're cutting things a little close out here. What's your status?"

"We need five more minutes," Sabine responded. "We just got to the terminal a minute or two ago."

"Well, time's up," Ezra said. "Because the Empire knows we're here and reinforcements are going to come quick."

"No, we can still complete the mission," Sabine said. "We just keep them occupied with a distraction to buy us the time we need."

"Right." Ezra grumbled to himself as he began to internally debate just how he was going to stall them and where to best coerce the bucket heads into going.

He didn't get much time however, to come up with anything before another voice chimed in. "I've got it."

Gavyn. Why did it have to be Gavyn? Ezra's fists clenched tightly, the more he thought about the rookie getting to play a more pivotal role than he'd been assigned. Ever since that guy had shown up in the Rebellion, and more importantly, in Sabine's life, Gavyn's presence alone had been driving Ezra to a dark, angry place. He was really starting to hate that guy.

* * *

_The door to Ezra and Zeb's room slid open as soon as Sabine's access codes were entered onto the panel. She had an angry look plastered on her face, but her motivation for being there was temporarily halted by the sight before her. Ezra was standing there, a towel in hand while still pressed against his still slightly damp hair. He wasn't wearing a shirt and his pants, in her opinion were hanging dangerously low on his hips._

_Ezra eventually noticed his state of undress as well and went over to grab a fresh shirt. "I've already heard it from Rex," He said as he pulled his shirt over his head. "So if that's why you're here, you can just save your breath."_

_"I want to know what your issue is," Sabine said after regaining her focus. "And I doubt Rex went to that level with you."_

_"Well, I don't have an issue," Ezra responded. "That is aside from you barging in here unannounced after I just got back from the fresher."_

_His response caused Sabine to recoil just a bit. She'd almost expected Ezra to jump at the opportunity to turn the situation into some juvenile sexual innuendo. Or at the very least, he would've used it as an opportunity to throw in a lame attempt at flirting instead of almost seemingly being angry with her. In fact, he always seemed to be angry anymore. "That's exactly what I'm talking about," She pointed out. "Your attitude has changed so much ever since you came back from Malachor, and quite frankly, I'm getting sick of it."_

_"Well, if you're so sick of it, then why don't you just go check on your boyfriend in the med center and leave me alone!" Ezra said._

_"Is that what this is about? Sabine angrily asked. "Are you jealous of Gavyn?"_

_Then it was Ezra's turn to recoil a bit. She'd made a good point and he was jealous. Sabine bringing it out in the open forced Ezra to admit it, even if only internally. But that didn't mean he was about to acknowledge it to her. "What reason would I have to be jealous of him?"_

_"Then if it wasn't jealousy," Sabine said, not trying in the least to hide her disbelief in his claim. "Then why did you try to humiliate Gavyn in the sparring session? Which by the way, only made you look like an or'dinii to everyone else."_

_He wasn't sure what that name meant, but he was certain it wasn't complimentary. "Look, Sabine, I really don't care what everyone thinks. I've been getting stronger every day, and not just through the Force. I just thought that maybe Gavyn would be a little bit of a challenge for me, but I guess I was wrong."_

_"Then maybe you should go up against a Mandalorian since you think you're so strong now," Sabine suggested as she stepped into Ezra's personal space._

_He considered it for a moment but then decided that things were getting a little too heated between Sabine and himself. Instead, he managed to step around her with a sideways glance. "I'm not interested in fighting with you now. Maybe some other time."_

_"Di'kut," Sabine muttered as she stood there in Ezra's room until he was out of sight. She wondered not for the first time what had gotten into the boy who had been a good friend? Was there something she could do to get her friend to come back? She couldn't believe her last thought but wondered if she still even wanted to get him to come back anymore._

* * *

The floor started to quake ever so slightly, which was a good indicator that an explosion occurred. "Was that you, G?" Sabine asked over the comm.

"Yup," He confirmed. "Looks like your lessons are starting to pay off. That should keep the Imp's occupied for a little bit."

"Definitely." Sabine replied before turning her focus back to the mission objectives. "Spectre five, get all of your team back to the extraction point. We've got about two minutes left until the spike will finish installing, and then we'll meet you back there."

Ezra wanted to argue his opinion that his team should stay at their stationed points to keep an eye on things until everyone was ready to go. But he wasn't the mission lead, Sabine was. She'd given her orders, and he'd already gotten on her bad side enough recently. So he complied, following her orders, and informed his part of the team to return to the shuttle.

Ezra was the first to arrive in the hangar bay where their "liberated" shuttle was stationed, and he completed a headcount as the members of his team started to arrive in pairs of two's. As the fourth and final pair arrived, Sabine announced that the data spike was successfully uploaded, and ordered her team to head back. But that was when things took a turn for the worse.

"We've been spotted!" Sabine yelled out overtop of blaster fire in the background.

"I've got another miracle just about ready." Gavyn replied. "There's still a lot of Imps around here, but I think I can still set it off."

"Don't worry about that!" Sabine barked out. "Just get to the…."

The transmission cut off as soon as the Empire jammed their signal, and Sabine's last command was lost in static. Ezra had a bad feeling about the situation they were in, and debated for a moment whether he should wait for Sabine and her team to return, or if he should go in after her, but his decision was made for him when he heard yet another explosion.

"Keep the ship secure," Ezra ordered. "I'll be right back."

Then Ezra charged back into the conflict, intent on ensuring that Sabine and her team could escape. At first, he headed in the direction where the explosion occurred, and wasn't meeting much in the way of resistance along the way. When he did come across a few Stormtroopers, they happened to be headed in the same direction as he was, which made it easy to get the jump on them from behind.

Sabine, however, wasn't quite so fortunate. She was heading almost in the opposite direction, running into conflict, and forcing her to alter her course at almost every turn. If she could have spared the time, she would have worked on the comms being jammed. With no communication, that made it more difficult to find a clear path back to the ship.

She knew that if her team was stopped anywhere for long, they'd become pinned down, and then they were all as good as captured if they survived at all. So she tried to maintain at least two possible paths forward at all times to keep that from happening. Still though, she knew her team was quickly running out of time, and they didn't seem to be getting any closer to the hangar bay.

They needed to come up with something to help clear their path, and that answer appeared for them once when Ezra suddenly appeared behind the group of Stormtroopers currently standing in their way. He had them flanked, and they didn't know what was about to hit them, causing Sabine to smile behind her helmet.

She couldn't recall a time where she'd been happier to see him than when his lightsaber came to life and he began to dispatch their opposition. "Come on, let's go!" She barked to the rest of her crew before opening fire and charging forward to join him.

They ended up making short work of the Stormtroopers before meeting in the middle. "Head back that way," Ezra announced while pointing in the direction he'd come from, and turning to lead them back to the shuttle.

"Wait!" Sabine called out, grabbing Ezra by the arm too. "I still have two missing from my team. Part of the plan had Whif and Gavyn breaking off to serve as a fail-safe if we ended up needing a distraction to give us the time we needed. I don't know if they received my command to head back to the extraction point or not, but I haven't seen them."

"I'll get them." Ezra said as he turned fully to Sabine. "You're the best pilot we've got Sabine, and we need you to be ready to leave as soon as we reach the ship."

Sabine wanted to stay and help retrieve her team, but deep down she knew that Ezra was right. If any of them were going to make it out of there, she needed to be ready to pilot them away to safety. Every second the situation was becoming increasingly volatile and critical to their success. "Alright," She conceded. "Don't take too long. We need to leave as soon as possible or none of us is getting out of here."

"Got it." Ezra confirmed and then headed farther into the complex. He started by using his senses to get a feel for where to go, but it was difficult with all the scurrying about going on around him. So, as soon as he came upon a small clearing, he closed his eyes and reached out through the Force until he found a couple of Force signatures that were filled with concern and fear.

He quickly realized that they weren't too far away, but he also discovered that they were pinned down, and had a closed blast door preventing them from getting away. Ezra knew he didn't have time to work his way around, so instead, he placed his hand on the door, and felt through the Force before plunging the blade of his lightsaber into the metal of the door, and then began to cut a hole into it.

Once he finished his circular cut, he used a Force push to throw the hunk of metal out of his way, creating the access needed to reach his comrades. As soon as he had a clear view of the situation though, he discovered that he hadn't gotten there in time. Wini Shif was laying on the corridor floor, curled away from his view, and not moving.

Ezra could see multiple pit marks caused by blaster fire extremely close to her backside, and an obvious blaster wound on her upper torso as well. She was lying prone on the opposite corner of the hallway, away from Gavyn, who was virtually cowering in between a random and wild blind shot from his blaster in the general direction of the enemy.

"I can't get to her!" Gavyn yelled once he noticed that Ezra was there. "She didn't have a chance. They hit her as soon as we were spotted, and she hasn't moved since! I think she might be dead!"

Ezra growled in anger at the bucket heads who were responsible but managed to focus back on the task at hand. "Get back to the ship, "He ordered. "I'll get Wini and be right behind you. Have them ready the ship to take off as soon as you get there."

Gavyn nodded in response before sprinting through the hole created by Ezra just moments earlier, and Ezra readied his lightsaber for the impending onslaught of blaster fire he was about to face. He readied himself with a deep breath as he stepped out into the view of his enemies. His blade was already spinning around so fast it was just a blur to the human eye by the time the Stormtroopers took aim. Blaster fire connected with the swinging blade, and was sent right back to the Stormtroopers who fired at him with incredible accuracy. More than a few Stormtroopers managed to duck away and avoid being hit by their own blasts, but numerous others weren't so fortunate.

The instant that Ezra made it over to Wini, he knelt down next to her and felt for a pulse. It was faint, but he could still find it. He knew right away that he needed to get her out of there, but in order to do that, he first had to have time to pick her up without being shot himself. Unfortunately, Sabine and he hadn't been on speaking terms for the most part in the last couple of weeks, and as a result, he never received one of her miracles. The only way out of his situation was to rely on his increased powers to give him the time he needed.

Ezra closed his eyes and focused on his surroundings. Within seconds, the sounds of blasters firing faded away until the only thing he could hear was the beating of his own heart. He reached further out, finding the Stormtroopers Force signatures, who had begun to advance on his position. Once he was focused on all of them, he built up his strength and then sent out a staggering wave of Force energy at them.

The power of his Force push was incredible. Not a single Stormtrooper was able to evade it, and when it made contact with them, they weren't just knocked off their feet. They were also driven back down the corridor quite a significant distance. By the time they were able to return to their original position again, the two remaining Rebels were already gone.

* * *

The hangar bay was quickly filling up with danger as Gavyn came running into it. He was able to take out a few Stormtroopers as he sprinted toward the waiting shuttle before jumping into the ship to safety. "Where's Ezra and Wini?" One rebel asked as Gavyn fought to regain his breath.

"Wini was hit." He responded in a short burst, still trying to catch his breath. "I couldn't get to her. Ezra said not to wait for him. To have the ship ready to leave as soon as I got aboard."

Gavyn's message was then relayed up to the cockpit, where Sabine was already prepping for flight. If the comms weren't jammed, she would have radioed Ezra herself to have him confirm if he had another exit planned or not because she knew that they needed to take off.

Sabine saw some bucket heads come into the bay with heavier artillery which would surely ground the shuttle if they didn't leave immediately. So she lifted the shuttle off the hangar floor, and that was when Ezra appeared.

"There he is!" One of the crew called out loudly before stepping out of the shuttle door and opening fire in hopes that they could assist Ezra in reaching the shuttle.

The Jedi saw everything as if it were all in slow motion. Blaster fire was flying all around the hangar bay, heading in seemingly all directions. Ezra had Wini in a fireman's carry, using his blaster and Force pushing whenever he could to keep them moving forward. He couldn't stop. He knew that Sabine would wait as long as she possibly could to ensure no one would be left behind, but she couldn't wait much longer.

Ezra's good fortune up to that point, however, quickly ran out as a blaster bolt struck him in the left thigh. The pain was staggering, and with the added weight of Wini on top of his shoulder, he very nearly buckled to the floor. But Ezra gritted his teeth, trying to fend off the pain surging up and down his leg as he continued toward the shuttle, determined that he would not fail. Not this time.

Limping next to his goal floating just off the floor, Ezra took Wini in both arms and hoisted her up to the shuttle's ramp where some of his fellow Rebels stopped firing blasters long enough to help pull Wini's limp body aboard. Once they had her securely, Ezra then jumped off his good leg and was just able to latch onto the ramp as the shuttle exited the hangar.

Ezra managed to climb up onto the ramp into a kneeling position. He was breathing heavily and nearly exhausted, but they were all safe. They'd made it back to the shuttle. When Sabine heard some of the members of the team announcing that Ezra and Wini were on board, she began to elevate the craft even higher. She began to plot the course to make the jump off-planet when suddenly she heard it. A single blast, that echoed through the shuttle's cabin, followed by desperate yelling. The yelling was a single word, a name. and that name was Ezra's.

As soon as it registered to Sabine that the Rebels were yelling Ezra's name, she didn't think of anything else other than getting back to where she knew he'd been. She left the flying to the current co-pilot, and raced back to the ramp, looking all around for her injured friend. But when she couldn't immediately locate him, a chill crept down her spine. "What happened? Where's Ezra?"

No one answered, and she wasn't in the mood for silence. She looked directly at one of the few Rebels who still made eye contact with her. "What…Happened? Answer me Gellad."

"We…we thought he was safely on the ramp," Gellad said. "But then the Imps got a lucky shot off. It…It knocked him off balance. I tried to grab him, but he fell off the ramp before I could reach him."

"What?" Sabine asked in utter disbelief. She almost couldn't believe what she'd just been told.

"After he was shot, he fell."

* * *

After beginning to catch his breath, Ezra stood up, and that was when it happened. He didn't even sense it at all until it was already too late. A single shot that struck him just below the right shoulder managed to knock him off balance. As he stumbled forward, his injured leg was the one he attempted to regain his balance with, but it failed him. He then tried reaching for something to prevent him from falling, but his right arm was the only limb with anything close enough to latch onto. It also happened to be the side of his body where he'd just been shot, and because of that, his arm couldn't seem to gather the necessary strength or mobility in time to grab onto anything but air.

The next thing Ezra saw was the ground as it rapidly came up to meet him. He struggled to keep from panic and did manage to keep it at bay long enough to use the Force, assisting him in easing his landing. It wasn't much but was enough to prevent him from dying on impact. Still, his landing definitely wasn't soft, and after impact, he tumbled for quite some time before coming to a stop.

Ezra was sore all over, but in his leg and back especially, and to top it off, he was also having a hard time breathing. He knew though that he had to move or his pain would only increase in the form of torture once the Empire found him. Ezra grunted from the effort as he worked to pull himself up. His leg was absolutely throbbing in pain from the gunshot wound, but he forced himself to get moving.

He needed to find shelter and medical supplies. Much like Lothal before he'd met the Rebels, there were still some towns on this planet that weren't completely overrun by the Empire. He just needed to make it to one before he was captured. So Ezra virtually dragged his injured leg along as he sought some much-needed distance between himself and the Imperial facility he'd basically plummeted from.

Hours passed, and Ezra had managed to avoid the Empire up to that point. As he continued moving forward, his mind began to wander to where it always tended to, or rather who. He hoped that Sabine and the rest of the crew escaped and made it back to Chopper Base safely. He just hoped that Sabine was alright.

Eventually, as a result of his continued push to keep moving forward, exhaustion became an evergrowing issue. He started to become weaker with every passing minute. He managed to force himself through another hour and noticed that he'd come up to a clearing, but was completely exhausted by that point, dropping the rest of the way to the ground. He knew that he needed to keep moving, but when he closed his eyes intending to rest for a minute or two, he didn't reopen them.


	5. Chapter 5: Exiting Limbo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sabine is desperate to go after her friend with the rest of the Ghost crew.

Everything was a blur and there weren't any sounds to be heard either. He tried to speak, but his throat felt raw, dry. His whole body ached, especially when he tried to move. Even if it was for something as simple as blinking his eyes.

He was in a limbo of sorts, wanting to go back to sleep but also feeling completely restless at the same time. There were just too many unanswered questions for his mind to allow him to sleep any longer. For instance, why he was in so much pain? Where was he? Had the Empire captured him?

As he pondered over his current situation, some things began to come back to him. He recalled being shot and plummeting from a shuttle. How he survived the fall escaped him for the moment, but at least he could conclude why he was sore all over. A fall like that would definitely leave him battered and bruised.

Then some movement within the room he was in caused him to realize for the first time, that he wasn't alone. He didn't want to let anyone know that he was awake, but as the sounds of movement continued, he quickly came to the realization that he'd already given himself away when whoever else was in the room began to speak.

"…starting to wake up." He heard the gruff sounding voice saying.

He wondered who this person might be talking to and how much trouble it would be to try and escape. He'd only felt a single presence in his room up to that point. In the past, one person would be simple enough to get away from, but before had been different. He'd never felt like he'd been run over by a stampede before.

And before he could make an attempt to escape, he heard a door slide open and could feel someone else running into the room. He could tell by the gasping voice that the new company belonged to a female, but what he didn't expect was her saying his name.

"Ezra?"

Her voice instantly caused more to click in his mind, and he desperately wanted to open his eyes, but it was so very bright. When he did try to open them, pain immediately surged through his brain, causing him to pinch his eyes tightly shut and let out a small grunt, revealing his discomfort.

"Turn down the lights, Zeb." The female said, and it was then that everything clicked into place. Hera.

He immediately knew he was safe and could sense when his roommate turned down the lighting of the room, allowing him to open his eyes with a bit more ease. Initially, just as with everything else when he first woke up, his vision too was blurry, but it quickly began to clear up. Within a moment or two, Ezra was able to make out the outlines of both his roommate and the closest thing he'd had to a mother since the Empire took his parents away from him all those years ago.

He tried to say Hera's name, but his throat still betrayed him, only permitting him to open and close his mouth.

"Have some water, Ezra," Hera suggested as she sat on his bedside and held a glass with a straw up next to his lips.

Ezra took a couple of small sips before he felt like he'd had enough. He gently coughed in preparation for another attempt at speaking, but just as he was about to open his mouth again, Hera gave him a disapproving look. "Save your strength." She ordered. "You were nearly dead when we finally found you. The answers will come, but first, you need to rest."

Ezra wasn't able to stay awake much longer, especially after he failed to notice Hera had slightly increased the level of his pain medication. As soon as Ezra passed out, Hera sighed in relief. His waking up had been the first sign in quite some time that Ezra was going to be alright, and Hera had felt so guilty about his predicament.

She'd assigned the mission to Sabine and Ezra with the new recruits, and as a result, she felt responsible. This whole ordeal had been tough on both of her kids. While Ezra was injured and left behind, Sabine had been beating herself up ever since he'd been missing.

While Hera was extremely pleased that she'd been there when Ezra woke up, now that she'd thought about it, Sabine would likely be extremely upset to discover that he woke up while she wasn't there. She hadn't wanted to leave his side, and it'd been an intense argument just to get Sabine to leave Ezra in the med bay for food or to clean up a bit.

Sleep had been out of the question entirely for the Mandalorian. She may have dozed off a couple of times, but she was still in Ezra's room the entire time. As much as Hera felt that she was the blame for what happened, Sabine had felt ten times worse.

She was the mission leader, and as the lead, she was the one who had the unenviable decision to make in having to leave Ezra behind.

* * *

_"What happened? Where's Ezra?"_

_No one answered, and she wasn't in the mood for silence. So Sabine looked directly at one of the few Rebels who still made eye contact with her. "What…Happened? Answer me Gellad."_

_"We…we thought he was safely on the ramp," Gellad said. "But then the Imps got a lucky shot off. It…It knocked him off balance. I tried to grab him, but he fell off the ramp before I could reach him."_

_"What?" Sabine asked in utter disbelief. She almost couldn't believe what she'd just been told._

_"After he was shot, he fell."_

_Sabine stood there for a moment. Ezra had been shot? And he fell off the ship? How high up were they? Could he survive the fall? She wasn't sure, but there wasn't a single part of her that didn't want to go and save him immediately._

_She sprinted back up to the cockpit, not wasting another moment. "What's our altitude?" She asked loudly in order to reach her co-pilot's ears. "We're going to the planet's surface to get our teammate."_

_"We were 250 feet in the air when you left the cockpit." The co-pilot announced. "I'm not sure we should return to the planet's surface. Tie fighters are already closing in fast, and I'm sure you realize, we're only in a shuttle."_

_The co-pilot was right. The shuttle had nearly no weapons to fight back with, and it was slow too. They'd never be able to outmaneuver the Ties, and the shields would only hold out for so long before they were all toast._

_If she'd had a jetpack, there wouldn't be any hesitation at all. She'd leave the team to escape and go after Ezra herself. She still considered having them drop down low enough for her to jump off, but in looking at the scanner, she knew that wasn't an option. The co-pilot was right. The Ties were closing in too quickly, and if they didn't leave now, none of them would escape._

_"I'm sorry, Ezra." She said under her breath as she directed the shuttle up toward the atmosphere. "Ni'll olaror norac par gar, Ezra. Gar ganar ner miit."_

_The co-pilot looked over to Sabine in confusion, not understanding what it was that she'd said, but knew better than to ask. From what they knew of Sabine, openly displaying emotion wasn't something she showed much of at all, but now it was reverberating off of her in waves._

_As soon as they'd made the jump into hyperspace, Sabine could no longer hold in her frustration, yelling while she threw her helmet into a nearby wall. She began pacing back and forth in no general path or direction. Her thoughts consumed with how she was going to rescue Ezra._

_She wasn't about to wait, and as soon as she could get her hands on a ship, she was going to return and find Ezra. She'd go alone to get him. After all, it was her fault that he was still there in the first place and not traveling back home with the rest of the team. Perhaps Hera would let her take the Phantom, and manage to slip in undetected._

_She could only hope that Ezra would be alright. In the time she'd been around Kanan and Ezra, she'd seen them do incredible things. Things that she was sure no one else could have done. And Ezra had been willing to sacrifice himself in order to keep her safe before. The one time they came across the two inquisitors came to mind._

_Ezra had destroyed the control panel to a blast door, allowing her to escape at the expense of his own capture. And he'd only grown in strength since then. The evidence with how he'd connected to the purrgil came to mind. Not even Kanan had felt their presence as quickly as Ezra did. She had to save him, no matter the cost._

_With determination in her eyes, Sabine returned to the controls and opened a channel on the communicator. She was going to need a ship to be ready. "This is Spectre five, calling Spectre two. Spectre two, come in."_

_After a few minutes, an answer was received. "We've got you, Sabine," Hera replied. "How did the mission…"_

_"I need to use the Phantom as soon as we arrive, Hera." Sabine quickly said, interrupting Hera._

_"What's going on Sabine? Was there an issue with the mission?"_

_"We lost Ezra," Sabine said, guilt-laden deeply in her voice. "I'm going back to get him, and I need to have the Phantom prepped and ready to go."_

* * *

Sabine scurried back into Ezra's room. She wasn't happy about being ordered away from Ezra. She wanted to be there if anything changed in Ezra's condition. He'd been unconscious ever since they found and rescued him, and he'd been placed in a bacta tank more often than he'd been left to simply rest and recover.

When she arrived, she noticed that Zeb was no longer in the room, which only troubled her even more. The deal had been made that she would leave long enough to eat something and while she was gone, Zeb would be there until she returned.

She was about to call Zeb to rip him a new one, but then Hera's voice reached her from the corner of Ezra's room. "I told Zeb that I'd watch Ezra so that he could get something to eat before the next mission briefing," she said.

"I'm not going," Sabine responded instantly. She hadn't gone on any missions since they'd found Ezra.

"Even if I were to tell you that Ezra opened his eyes today?" Hera asked, deciding to just let Sabine know rather than dance around it.

"No, Hera, I don't want to go over this again. Until I know that…" Sabine said, going into the same argument she had before whenever someone approached her about a mission. But she stopped herself when Hera's words finally sank in. "Wait, he what?"

"It wasn't for very long, Sabine, but he did open his eyes." Hera confirmed for her.

"Oh, thank the Manda," Sabine said more to herself than out loud. "Has the medical droid come in the check on him yet?"

"I actually just notified the medical wing about Ezra's waking up." Hera explained. "The droid should be here at any time, and then we'll know more about how to manage his recovery as he starts to become more active."

With the information Hera provided, Sabine felt as though a large weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She wanted to be angry that she wasn't there to see it for herself but just couldn't bring herself to be upset. It was good news. There may have still been quite a bit of guilt weighing on her, but Ezra's waking up after five days did provide her with some much-needed relief.

She knew there would still be quite a bit of time before Ezra fully recovered, but finally receiving some progress helped restore her faith that Ezra would indeed recover. However, there was also another part of her that was skeptical and needed to see it for herself. So, she returned to her seat next to his medical bed to wait for the medical droid to arrive.

Hera had hoped the news would do more to lift Sabine's spirits, but it only seemed to serve as a temporary relief that was already fading. At least she didn't seem to be angry about not being there, and she hoped what she had to ask next wouldn't further sour Sabine's mood. "What do you want me to tell Command about when your status will change?"

Sabine thought about it for a moment, and then the only answer she found acceptable came to her. "Tell them that my status won't change until after Ezra is cleared to leave the med bay."

"I'm not sure they'll like that answer, Sabine," Hera said. "You're one of the most valuable assets to the Phoenix squadron, and your experience has already been missed. Not just with Phoenix squadron either, but with me too, Sabine."

She looked away from Ezra to give Hera her undivided attention for a moment. "I'm sorry Hera," She said. "But I just can't right now. I need to see that Ezra is going to be alright after I left him behind."

"You didn't have a choice, Sabine," Hera replied. "Every member of your team validated that you made the only choice you could. Gavyn and Valsi both let Command know that you made it clear you didn't want to leave Ezra behind, and your actions during Ezra's rescue only further proves how much the Rebellion needs you."

* * *

_The shuttle hadn't even truly settled before Sabine was exiting the ramp. She wasn't about to be denied, and her hands rested on her blasters for anyone who might try and stop her or get in her way. She grimaced when she saw that Hera was waiting for her at the hangar with Zeb and Rex in tow. She didn't want them to get in her way._

_"Don't try to stop me, Hera," Sabine said as she stormed in the direction of the Ghost. "I'm going back for Ezra."_

_"I'm not going to try and stop you," Hera said as she slid in step beside Sabine. "We're coming with you."_

_"I'm coming too." A voice following closely behind stated._

_"I don't think that's necessary, Gavyn," Hera said over her shoulder._

_"He came back to save Wini and me," Gavyn said, not giving up yet. "If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't have been in this situation."_

_Sabine stopped and turned around. "It's not your call," She barked. "It was my decision. I was mission lead, so it's on me, and you are going to continue following orders. You're staying here."_

_With that, she turned back around and boarded the Ghost, making her way to the Phantom. The other four Rebels boarded the Phantom behind her, and Chopper flew out to settle into his astromech socket, with Hera taking the controls._

_In preparation, Chop already had the hyperspace coordinates at the ready for both the way to and back from the planet where Ezra was. They were soon zipping away in hyperspace, and it was then that Hera turned back to witness a fidgeting Sabine. She was almost vibrating. "We need to come up with a plan that will give us a better chance of success."_

_Sabine stopped what she was doing and looked at the Twi'lek. "We weren't far from the hangar bay when he fell out of the shuttle," She explained._

_"We could hack into the Empire's communications," Rex suggested. "Listen in to their chatter and should be able to tell if they're still looking for him or not. If we don't hear anything after a few minutes about adjustments to search patterns or something along those lines, then it'd be reasonable to believe they already found him."_

_"Whether they have him or not, I just hope he's still alive," Zeb said._

_"They'd better hope he's still alive," Sabine responded, her voice laced with venom. "Because if not, I'll burn the whole karking facility to the ground."_

_"Let's go with the mindset that Ezra did survive the fall as well as being shot." Hera's calming voice called out. "I think Rex is right. We should listen in on Imperial chatter first before moving in. That will give us a better idea of where to focus our search. If Ezra's been captured, we'll need a coordinated attack to get the jump on the Empire's forces."_

_"We could also see if Chop can trace the location of Ezra's comm unit," Zeb added. "Maybe we can actually catch a break for once."_

_"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Hera said. "Either way, our only goal is to bring Ezra home, and if we can help it, not hamper the result of Sabine's initial mission."_

_"At haran ti te aka," Sabine muttered._

_"Sabine," Rex responded in an admonishing tone._

_"No Rex." Sabine fired back. "The mission was compromised the moment we were spotted anyways. It's only a matter of time before the Empire realizes that we didn't go there to steal supplies, and then they'll look for the next most likely thing."_

_"Be that as it may, we're not going in there with the intention of anything aside from saving Ezra," Hera stated._

_Sabine was in agreement for the most part, and stayed quiet about her intentions should their rescue mission end up not having someone to rescue. If that turned out to be the case, then the building was coming down, and anyone tied to the Empire was going to meet the business end of her blasters._

* * *

"How's he doing?" Sabine heard Gavyn say after the door opened and allowed him entry into Ezra's room.

Sabine looked up as her new friend entered the room and sighed. "Not a lot of change to this point." She answered. "The med droid's are still saying the same thing. That he should wake up any time now, but that he also still has a long way to go in his recovery."

"I'm sure he'll pull through sooner than later," Gavyn said, coming to a stop just behind Sabine's left shoulder, and looking over her to the still sleeping Jedi. "He was amazing out there."

Sabine glanced back at Gavyn for a moment, seeing complete sincerity on his face, and that gave her pause for a moment. She hadn't realized it until just then but came to the conclusion that she'd become somewhat desensitized to all of the astounding things that a Jedi could do. After all, she'd been around two of them for quite some time, and now it just seemed like an everyday thing to her. Perhaps she'd begun taking their powers for granted.

"He has his moments." She somewhat agreed, not willing to verbalize complete agreement even if that was how she truly felt.

"I'd say so," Gavyn replied. "Because of him, Wini's going to fully recover."

"How is Wini?" Sabine asked, suddenly remembering that Ezra wasn't the only one who came back injured.

"She should be able to leave the med bay in the next day or two," Gavyn informed her. "Mostly they just want to keep an eye on her. She would've left this morning if they'd let her."

"Tough girl," Sabine commented. "That's why I requested her for the mission."

"Yeah, she is." Gavyn agreed. "She's been asking about Ezra. I think she wants to thank him for pulling her out of there."

That made sense, Sabine supposed. But for some reason, there was a part of her that wanted Wini to just stay away from Ezra. She wasn't sure where that came from, and it didn't feel like she was trying to be protective of him. But this feeling inside her was there and she couldn't quite put her finger on what drove her to feel such a way.

Besides, Wini seemed like she was a good person, and Ezra had saved her life. It wasn't like Sabine to begrudge Ezra friends before, so she wondered why was now different?

"Is there something wrong with that?" Gavyn suddenly asked, drawing Sabine back from her reflective state.

"What?" She asked.

"You were scowling," Gavyn pointed out, before chuckling to himself. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you don't want another girl in here with him."

"You don't know any better." She snapped back at him immediately. "Ezra's been a part of the Ghost crew for a while now. He's become a friend, and…I just want what's best for him. I want him to get better. That's all."

"Maybe Wini could be what's best for him?" Gavyn suggested, which only caused Sabine to scowl even more. "Or maybe not. I didn't know you felt like that about him."

"Like what?" Sabine asked.

"That you like him," Gavyn answered. "Romantically."

"I don't," Sabine responded immediately. "He's like family is all."

"I see," Gavyn said while hiding a smile from Sabine. "Well, try not to make everyone around here worry about you too. Actually eat every day. We don't need you in here next due to starving yourself."

Sabine's only response was to turn her attention back to the person lying on the medical bed. Gavyn knew better than to push or overstay his welcome, so he reluctantly headed back out, leaving the two Ghost crewmates alone.

Once the door slid shut, Sabine leaned over Ezra a bit, reaching up to put her hand against his forehead. While there were machines vigilantly checking him for his vitals, Sabine couldn't bring herself to completely trust them when simple contact confirm for her that Ezra's fever hadn't returned.

By the time they'd found him covered in mud and unconscious, infection from his wounds had already begun to spread. He was burning up, and they were forced to strip him down as soon as they got him aboard the Phantom. Unfortunately, the little ship didn't have much in the way of medical supplies, and they had to hope the chill of space would be enough to keep his body temperature down until they returned to Chopper base.

Satisfied that his temperature was normal, Sabine started to back away, but her fingers never actually left Ezra's skin. Instead, she slid them gently over his cheek, pausing slightly when they reached his twin scars, and then took them down his arm until they reached his hand. Sabine looked up at Ezra's face for any sign that her touch had stimulated any kind of response, but his face remained unchanged.

She allowed herself to sigh once again as she grasped his hand. She seemed to be sighing a lot lately, which was maddening to her. She hated feeling this way, but the only way it would improve is when Ezra did. "I don't know if you can hear me, Ezra," She said quietly. "But please wake up. I need to know that you're going to be alright." She paused for a moment, overcome emotionally to the point where she even allowed a sob to break through. "I just wish you'd give me some sign that you're going to be alright."

She remained quiet after making her plea for a few minutes, just looking at Ezra and hoping he'd open those beautiful blue eyes that she dearly missed. His eyes always had a shade of blue she still had yet to perfectly replicate, and she longed for another peek at that wonderful color.

But Ezra didn't seem to be ready for her to see his eyes just yet. Aside from the gentle rise and fall of his chest, he wasn't moving at all. Sabine closed her eyes in frustration and then loosened her hold on Ezra's hand. She began to sit back in her chair when suddenly she thought she felt one of his fingers moving in her hand just before it slid completely away.

Her eyes immediately shot open, looking directly at his hand, but she couldn't tell if he'd actually moved or not. She began to wonder if perhaps she'd conjured feeling his finger grazing her hand. She knew that she hadn't been sleeping much lately, and wondered if maybe her mind was playing tricks on her. But then she watched as one of Ezra's fingers twitched before it softly began to move against the skin on her hand. Sabine sucked in a breath as excitement consumed her.

Every time his finger moved, she allowed her eyes to move back to his, looking for when his would meet hers. It didn't take long before she saw his eyelids begin to flutter. She inched forward in her seat, anxious for the moment she was now certain would be coming at any moment. And then they opened, and she couldn't help but smile as she moved even closer to his bedside. "Welcome back."

* * *

Ezra wanted to be happy. He really did. But he felt Gavyn's presence as soon as he came into the room. That was bad enough, but then he heard what Sabine said. She didn't have any romantic feelings for him.

But he'd been training. He became stronger in every way. The Holocron told him that when he became strong, he could get the things he wanted. If that was the case, then why was Sabine claiming she didn't like him that way? He wanted to be angry, but definitely didn't want Gavyn around to see it so he remained still and quiet, hoping that nerf herder would leave sooner rather than later.

Soon enough, Gavyn did finally leave. Ezra thought about revealing that he was awake to Sabine, but in truth, he was still a little upset still by hearing Sabine's words to Gavyn. He wasn't sure that he wanted to see her or talk to her because of it either. At least not until after he had a chance to work through the emotions he was dealing with.

But then something strange happened. Sabine got out of her chair and gently placed the back of her hand against his forehead. Was she actually trying to care for him? Why was she doing that? And then when she dragged her fingers gently alongside his face, pausing over his scars before moving her hand down to his hand and grasping it.

Hadn't what she'd just done to him revealed a sign of actual affection? He was confused, and then adding to that confusion, she spoke. He could hear such emotion behind her voice. There was hurt, guilt, and something else. Finally, she actually started to cry, and that nearly broke his heart.

He knew that he could make her feel better if he just gave her a sign, but he hesitated. She'd never shown anything so close to resembling a desire of him before. There was a part of him that wanted to keep things as they were. She was with him, and needed him. He was afraid that if he woke up, it would ruin the moment, and he didn't want things to go back to normal.

But Ezra also knew that he was hurting her by staying silent. He never wanted to hurt her, and that desire was what helped him to make his decision. So, he focused on showing her that he heard her plea.

It was tough going at first. His body wasn't fully cooperating with him, but soon enough, he managed to get his finger to twitch. Hearing Sabine take in a sharp breath told him that she noticed too, but it wasn't enough. He needed her to be sure. So he continued to focus, and his fingers eventually began to obey his commands, slowly moving in a circular pattern.

Sabine's skin was soft to his touch, and he only hoped that he would get to feel more of her in time. But he also wanted to see her and knew what he needed to do. Preparing for the bright lights, he slowly opened his eyes, and once they adjusted to the light, he could see her beautiful face again.

"Welcome back," She'd said with a growing smile.

Her fingers laced with his as she smiled, and that made Ezra feel happier than he could recall being in a very long time, so he gave her a smile in return as he gently squeezed her hand. "Hi, Sabine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Thank you for all of the kind reviews! I love getting them, and I hope that I responded to all of you. Also, I did my best to be accurate, and here are the translations for Mandalorian used in the chapter. Apologies for any errors as I am certainly not fluent in that language. 
> 
> Ni'll olaror norac par gar: I'll come back for you
> 
> Gar ganar ner miit: You have my word
> 
> At haran ti te aka: To hell with the mission
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this one as we saw a bit of emotion from Sabine that she doesn't ofter display.


	6. Chapter 6: Clear as Mud

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Ezra begins to heal, things grow between Ezra and Sabine, and more confusing for them too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone. I have to admit that this chapter was a little tougher to get through than the others, which is why it became a little longer than normal. I had to find a good spot for it to end. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

His room was quickly filled with a good number of visitors. Ezra was grateful for all of the concern and relief that everyone was displaying for him, but in truth, he also wanted to be alone with Sabine again. While they'd gotten a little time with just the two of them, Sabine, unfortunately, didn't wait too long before letting the other members of the Ghost crew know that Ezra was fully awake.

Up until the others showed up, Sabine had been attentive and caring. There were even a couple of moments where she almost babied him more than he imagined Hera would if she'd been there instead. He certainly wasn't complaining though. Any form of affection from Sabine was immensely appreciated, and he especially enjoyed it when Sabine held up his drink for him to sip from because of just how close she was to him.

He thought that he might be dreaming the whole thing until Hera, Chopper, and Zeb came into the room. And that was when Sabine seemed to flip a switch, returning to the person he'd always known her to be. Any affection from her toward him completely disappeared, and she instantly gave Hera access to her bedside seat while she moved back toward the door.

Ezra thought for a moment that she was going to leave the room entirely, and at first, it seemed like that was going to be the case as she reached for the door but then hesitated at the last moment. He had to admit to himself internally, that her actions did hurt a bit, even though she did end up staying after all. Knowing that she considered leaving caused him to wonder what could be so wrong with him that it prevented her from displaying any desire to have something more with him except when she feared losing him.

And thinking of that, Ezra decided it was time for some answers. "So, um, how did you guys find me before the Empire did?"

* * *

_"_ _Where could he be?" Sabine huffed in frustration._

_Rex's plan to listen into Imperial chatter over radio frequencies provided only a single positive, that the Empire hadn't located, Ezra yet. They were still searching in coordinated patterns, including sweeping through various town buildings for anyone who'd been recently injured._

_To evade detection, the Rebels had to land quite a distance away from the Imperial facility and use speeders to make the trek to where Sabine believed Ezra's landing point. That alone cost them a few hours' time, and every extra minute caused their worry to quickly grow, and Sabine especially._

_Unfortunately for them, the additional time it took them to get to the area Ezra fell was also followed closely by the sun setting over the horizon. They continued looking for any sign of Ezra's whereabouts until it became too dark to spot any signs that would tell them which direction he might have gone._

_With no other choice, Hera reluctantly made the decision to set up camp for the night and then continue the search at first light. But Sabine wasn't having any of that and went off to continue searching on her own. She just couldn't give up looking for the person she'd left behind, even if it seemed like a waste of time._

_She wandered around somewhat aimlessly, the only sure direction she kept tabs on was traveling away from the Imperial complex. She'd been at it for a few hours and felt in her extremities that it was beginning to get rather chilly out. She wasn't worried about herself so much because of her bodysuit, but she hoped that if Ezra was still out there, that he'd at least found somewhere to stay warm. "I'm coming, Ezra." She said to no one. "I'll find you. I promise. Just hang on."_

_Back at the campsite, Hera wasn't sleeping at all. She'd made Sabine promise to keep a tracker online so that they wouldn't get lose track of each other before Sabine continued the search. But the farther Sabine moved away from the camp, the more Hera's worry increased. She already had one kid missing from her crew, and she didn't know what she'd do if Sabine went missing too._

_But she also knew there was no keeping Sabine at the camp. She'd been beating herself up ever since Ezra was left behind, and while neither of the female Ghost crewmates were going to be sleeping, Sabine couldn't or wouldn't wait until they had more of a chance at finding Ezra. Hera just had to accept that Sabine would be okay as she sent a silent prayer that both her kids would be kept safe, as she stoked the small fire to keep the chilly air from having such a bite to it._

_Sabine, meanwhile, found herself weaving her way through some trees at the beginning of a small forest from what she could vaguely make out around her. She still hadn't found any new trace of Ezra, but logic told her that Ezra would not only travel away from the Empire but also that he would look for cover to keep him from being easily discovered._

_She continued on her way throughout the trees, occasionally validating her coordinates along the way. She didn't want to lose time by accidentally covering the same area more than once if she could help it with her weaving pattern. But the longer she continued on, the more her desperation to find him grew. What had been a gentle breeze earlier had become stronger as well as piercingly cold._

_By the time there was only another couple of hours left before first light, Sabine started to lose hope. That only increased when she realized that she was coming upon the last of the line of trees she'd been scouring through for the majority of the nigh. But that's when she saw some movement in front of her. Not taking any chances, she pulled her blasters out and aimed them in the direction of the movement, waiting to see if whatever it turned out to be was hostile or not._

_At first, she thought it might have just been a creature of some sort, or when there wasn't any movement afterward, perhaps her eyes playing tricks on her. Still, she decided to check out what she saw a little more closely, creeping forward slowly and being as quiet as possible as she approached. As soon as she could make out what it was, she quickly holstered her weapons and knelt down._

_"_ _Ezra?" She said as she gently turned him over so she could check his vitals. But, as worried as she'd been before she found him, the way he looked only increased her level of concern._

_He was unresponsive to her vocal and physical forms of contact. She had to remove her gloves to check his vitals, and she discovered that he was extremely cold to the touch. The good news was that she was able to find his pulse, weak though it was._

_According to her chronometer, it would still be well over an hour left before sunrise, and even then she knew it wouldn't really warm up that much for a few hours afterward either. So, she reached down to his hip and found his lightsaber was thankfully still with him after his fall. "Don't worry, Ezra." She said. "I'll be right back."_

_Sabine ran deeper into the tree line, and once she was reasonably sure she was out of anyone's line of sight, she activated the lightsaber and cut off some small branches with it. Once she had an arm full, she returned to Ezra._

_She found another use for his lightsaber as she made short work of getting a fire going. As soon as the fire was burning well enough, Sabine gently pulled Ezra as close to the fire as she believed he could safely be, and then started to look him over a little more closely. It quickly became obvious that he'd been crawling for a good bit, as his front was mostly covered with mud. The two blaster wounds didn't look particularly good either. He'd lost a lot of blood, but at least it seemed to have stopped before he lost too much._

_She checked his vitals again as well as his temperature, and it was then that she finally got a little reaction out of him. It was more of a short intake of breath followed by him going into a full-body shiver, but what surprised her was what happened next._

_It came out as more of a mumble than anything, but there was no mistaking what he said. "Sabine."_

* * *

"And then we found both you and Sabine just inside a wooded area," Hera said. "We were lucky that she found you when she did. On the trip back, we thought we were going to lose you a couple of times before we got you back to Chopper Base. If it'd been any longer, I'm not sure you would've made it."

"I know I've already said it, but thank you," Ezra responded to them, but his eyes were more focused on a singular person before he finished. "All of you."

"We're just glad you're going to recover sooner rather than later, kid," Zeb added.

Up to that point, Ezra had put up a good front, trying to make sure the rest of his crew felt that he was perfectly fine, but he was still injured and recovering. And Hera had been right before. Even though he'd been unconscious for days, his body began to betray him by the time they'd finished recapping him on his rescue, and he was no longer able to keep up the façade that he wasn't exhausted from his Ghost crew.

"We should let you get some more rest," Hera said as soon as she picked up on Ezra's exhausted state. "We'll all be back first thing in the morning to check on your progress, and to find out how long they plan to keep you in here."

Ezra replied with a lethargic small nod, but Hera still noticed it and began leading the others out. Sabine, who had been at the back of the room all that time, initially hesitated to leave. Instead, she allowed Zeb to exit first and gave Ezra a final glance before she too headed for the door.

"Sabine," Ezra said quietly, causing her to stop and turn back to him. "Would you stay for another minute?"

"Sure." She answered before turning to Hera. "I'll catch up with you guys."

Hera and Zeb nodded and headed farther down the corridor as Sabine went back to the seat she'd spent the majority of the last few days in. "Is there something you need?" She asked.

"Yeah," He said as he tried to sit up a little straighter, but that only caused his pain to pierce through the fog induced by the medication he'd been given. It took him a couple of minutes to get settled again, with Sabine's help of course.

"Thank you." He said.

"Don't mention it."

"No no," He responded. "Not just for this, but, for saving me too. And before you say it, I'm not reading anything more into it."

What he'd said last caught her attention more than anything, but it was the somberness in his tone that caught her more than anything. But what he said also struck her as a certain memory flooded her thoughts, and things began to click for her. She combined the fact that he'd stopped trying to flirt with her, that she hadn't caught him looking at her longingly recently either, and now him using her own words she'd said to him on that asteroid with those creepy creatures all added up.

Perhaps he'd given up or moved on from thinking that anything romantically between them would happen. She'd always imagined this day would be a grateful one for her, but now that it was laid out before her, she was anything but happy about it.

In fact, it actually saddened her a bit, and that surprised her as much as anything. "I…" She started before needing to force down an unexpected lump in her throat. "It's alright, Ezra. It was my fault that you were left behind in the first place."

"It wasn't your fault." Ezra adamantly responded as he grasped onto one of her hands. "Things go wrong during missions all the time. The only difference is this time I got hurt. And to be honest, I'm surprised I've made it this long with nothing all that serious happening to me. Besides, you came back for me, and now here I am, alive and recovering. And I have you to thank for it."

It took nearly everything Sabine had just to choke back a sob that was quickly growing inside her. With how poorly she and Ezra had been getting along recently, she almost expected that he'd at the least agree to her being the one at fault for his current predicament, but even though things were surely still tenuous between them, for the first time in quite a while, Sabine felt some hope that things could be repaired.

Ezra thought he could sense something different about Sabine, and that instantly turned their current situation a bit more awkward. Even though he was exhausted, he didn't want her to leave. It wasn't fair that she'd stay by his side when he couldn't even enjoy it, and now that he was awake, she was ready to leave. He had to think of something to say to keep her from leaving so soon.

"So, tell me," He said. "I didn't say or do anything too embarrassing, did I?"

Sabine smiled at the question, and she had to admit, it felt good to smile again.

* * *

_As soon as she'd heard him call out her name, Sabine was filled with elation. She had feared the worst, especially when she finally found him, but she had found him and he was alive. He'd called for her. Sabine gently moved him so that his head was settled on her lap. "Come on, Ezra." Sabine quietly pleaded. "Normally it's getting you to shut up that's the problem. Say something else to me. Tell me if moving you around is making it worse or not."_

_Her eyes remained focused on his face, waiting, hoping for something more from him, but nothing else came. Even though he'd spoken, he was still in bad shape and she needed him to be alright. If he didn't pull through, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to forgive herself, and the thought of losing a member of her new family felt as bad or worse than when she'd lost her original family. Even Mandalorians had their breaking point._

_Lost in her concern for him, Sabine began mindlessly sliding her fingers through Ezra's hair as she kept her vigil over him. She also tried to keep him both as warm and as comfortable as possible while she waited for daylight. But while they waited, she was still desperate for Ezra to show her that he was going to be okay. "You know Ez," She said quietly. "I'd even let you get away with trying to flirt with me if it meant you'd say something else."_

_As if hearing her plea, Ezra shivered slightly and mumbled something incoherently. Then he actually moved his uninjured arm and weakly wrapped it around her back, although it still seemed somewhat possessive too. "Knew….I could….count…on….you." He whispered softly before his grip on her slackened._

_Sabine startled for a moment when Ezra went limp, but she was able to focus on her training and confirmed that he was still breathing. She let out a small sigh in relief as she once again checked her chronometer for the time, hoping that she could call Hera to let her know where they were._

_The next hour passed agonizingly slow without being able to move much and having no one but an unconscious Ezra to talk to. All she could do was occasionally reach behind her to grab another log for the fire or continue to run her fingers through Ezra's hair. She couldn't really do anything to keep her mind occupied like paint or put together some more of her miracles._

_But eventually, the sky did begin to lighten up, and that was when Sabine's communicator thankfully indicated an incoming message. "Spectre five, come in," Hera called out._

_"_ _Spectre five here, Spectre two," Sabine responded._

_"_ _According to your tracker, you haven't moved much in the last few hours." Hera continued. "Is everything alright?"_

_Sabine could tell that Hera was trying not to get her hopes up, but now wasn't the time for that. "I've found the missing package, Spectre two," Sabine answered in code just in case their communications weren't secure but still getting right to the point. "I'll need you to come to my location to complete the delivery. The package is damaged, so I'm going to need a pick-up."_

_"_ _Understood Spectre five, we'll be there as soon as we can."_

* * *

Ezra was doing his very best to hide any signs of discomfort or pain from everyone else as he continued walking out of the med bay. He was returning to the Ghost, or more precisely, to his room where the Sith Holocron remained safely tucked away with his shelf of helmets.

It had been a long few days in recovery, made even longer by the scarcity of a certain someone's presence. Her absence started the very next day after he'd regained consciousness. Sabine was there for breakfast in the morning along with Hera and Zeb, but then he didn't see her again until dinner time, and once again with the same company.

The following day, Sabine wasn't with Hera in the morning and was only there around dinner time long enough to make sure he was eating before making her exit, and Hera had asked her to do that because she'd been pulled into a meeting with Rebel Command. Ezra suspected that if Hera hadn't asked, Sabine wouldn't have come at all that day.

The day after that, only confirmed his suspicion by her not visiting at all, and that absolutely infuriated Ezra. He'd thought that maybe, just maybe they might become closer as a result of his injury, but with her continued absences around him after that first day, he was obviously wrong. Things weren't getting better between the two of them with him stuck in the med bay and her no longer even visiting. In fact, he was beginning to believe that they were only getting worse.

It was at that point, Ezra decided he needed to get out of the med bay. He needed to get back to the Holocron to help him understand what was going on, and what he could do to help his desire for something romantically with Sabine to come to fruition. But, in order for that to happen, he had to be released by the medical personnel, and namely, the medical droid.

The next morning, as soon as Hera arrived, Ezra immediately began peppering her with requests to get out of there. Hera, however, remained steadfast in denying those requests, at least until the medical droid gave its approval, which had already issued its denial. Ezra knew that getting a droid to believe he was alright would be more difficult than a human, but he was determined.

As soon as the droid returned to his room again, Ezra drove the topic of medical clearance home to it. The droid attempted to ignore his demands, relying instead upon the scan performed earlier that morning. But, when the droid went to leave his room without providing Ezra with the answer he wanted, he used the Force to pick up the droid and pull it back to his bedside.

Ezra then used the threat of not allowing the droid to leave his room until he and it finally came to an agreement to put him through a battery of physical tests. If he passed them, then the droid would sign off on his release from the med bay.

Needless to say, Ezra relied heavily on his Force powers to help him through each and every test the droid chose to put him through. It almost felt like torture going through all of the range of motion testing, but he did make it through.

At that point, Hera stepped in and added the stipulations that Ezra had to strictly adhere to. She made him agree to continued rest and recuperation along with two more sessions in a bacta tank for good measure that the droid suggested when Hera was with them.

Ezra also had to agree to refrain from any form of physical training and missions were completely out of the question, but Ezra agreeable to pretty much anything so long as it provided his freedom. He even agreed to being inactive for the next two weeks or until he received full clearance from the medical droid based purely on the results of scans instead of going through another set of tests.

He knew that Hera was just being overprotective out of concern for him, and that was part of the reason why he didn't try to argue with her about the stipulations she added. But even though he'd agreed to them, he didn't stay in the Ghost for very long.

As soon as he had the Holocron, he immediately trekked out to a more private area with the assistance of a thumper to keep any nearby krykna at bay. Once he was reasonably sure he wouldn't be disturbed, he opened the Holocron up, and it instantly began speaking to him.

"Ezra Bridger, you've not opened this Holocron in many days."

"No," He responded. "I was injured during a mission, and got stuck in recovery for a while after that."

"What knowledge do you now seek?" It asked, getting directly to the point.

"I'm confused and need answers." He replied. "The person I want to be with, for a short time, it seemed like she was starting to see things between us the way I always have after she rescued me after the last mission I was on, but then without warning, she completely turned around and stopped even coming to visit me. Now it feels like she's shutting me out more than before, and I need to know what I can do to fix things between us before it's too late."

"The girl you desire is Mandalorian?" The Holocron asked as confirmation.

"Yes."

"Mandalorians are a race of people driven by power and status." The Holocron explained. "They admire victory, especially during war over all else. By displaying weakness in front of the Mandalorian girl, she would naturally be drawn away from you due to her upbringing. By allowing her to see you in an injured state, you would have displayed an unattractive look. She would initially display concern if your injuries were severe, but anything more than that would be considered weakness and not worthy of further attention."

So, by not being instantly recovered as soon as he woke up, he'd inadvertently displayed a major turnoff to her? But he wondered how would he be able to turn it around and fix it. He wasn't permitted to train or join any missions for a good amount of time, and with Gavyn also trying to weasel his way into the picture, Ezra didn't want to give him the slightest of chances if he had any say in the matter.

"Tell me what I need to do in order to fix this." He said. "I don't want to lose her, and I'll do anything to have her be with me and not Gavyn."

* * *

Sabine was walking through the Med bay corridors with Gavyn at her side, having both just returned from yet another supply mission. She wasn't especially pleased with having to go, but since Ezra had regained consciousness, she didn't have an acceptable excuse not to help out. Although she was pleased that the supply run only took a couple of days to complete.

It was also nice having Gavyn along for the supply run too, as he was really starting to grow on her the more that she hung around him. In a short amount of time, he'd already become a good friend, and with Ezra on the mend, she appreciated having that.

But even though they were only friends, she wasn't entirely sure Gavyn being with her at the moment was a good idea. Ezra had already made it obvious that he had an issue with Gavyn, and she was on her way to visit him. She did want Ezra to see that Gavyn and she were only friends, but that was going to be down the road a little ways, not while he was still healing up.

She also didn't want Gavyn to feel like Ezra resented him when it was misplaced. He'd let the sparring session go without much issue, but if Ezra continued to display animosity toward him out of some ill-conceived notion that they were in competition for her affection, there'd be no chance for Ezra to see that Gavyn was just becoming a good friend.

When they turned to the entrance of Ezra's room, it was obvious that he'd left. The room had already been cleaned and prepped for the next injured Rebel. Sabine was absolutely furious to see that he'd already been released. Why hadn't anyone told her about it?

She marched around, hunting for any medical personnel or droids that could give her the information she wanted, and upon making a second turn down a corridor, she found just that. "Hey droid," She called out, getting the medical droid's attention as she jogged toward it. "What happened with Ezra?"

"Ezra Bridger was released this morning under the condition that he refrain from missions or training until receiving full medical clearance." The droid responded before trying to return to its duties.

Sabine, however, wasn't finished yet. "And where did he go to?"

"Bridger's current location is not part of my coding to track." The droid answered.

Sabine huffed in frustration, her blood really beginning to boil. Even with the bacta treatments, Ezra should have remained in the med bay for at least a few more days.

"Maybe he's back in his personal quarters," Gavyn suggested.

"Knowing Ezra, probably not," Sabine grumbled. "Why don't we split up and see if anyone's seen him around the base. Contact me if you find out where he might be, and if I find out anything from my end, I'll let you know."

"Can't argue with a plan like that," Gavyn responded. "You'll be the first to know if I find out anything."

Sabine didn't hesitate with moving in her own direction, and the first person she went to was Hera. While Hera had been aware of Ezra's leaving the Med center, she wasn't aware of his current whereabouts. She had expected him to be in his quarters resting and went with Sabine to the Ghost only to find it completely empty.

It was at that point when Hera joined Sabine in being frustrated with the young Jedi. Hera pulled out her communicator and attempted to contact Ezra, only to hear her own voice echoing back at her from his bunk, meaning he'd left his comm behind.

"Is there any chance that he's not on base?" Hera asked.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Sabine replied. "I know he's been doing his training from somewhere outside the base perimeter, claiming that there were too many distractions for him to be completely focused on increasing his powers. It's been that way ever since he started training without Kanan."

"Ok, then we need to determine if he is off base, and which direction he would have gone if that's the case," Hera suggested. "Maybe someone witnessed him leaving. I doubt he'd go on foot because it would take too long."

"He would've most likely taken a speeder out then," Sabine concluded. "I'll let Gavyn know. He's already going around the base looking for Ezra, and he'll most likely be closer to the speeders anyway."

"We could pull in Wini too." Hera offered. "She's been in Ezra's room the past couple of days when I went to check up on him. I'll ask Zeb and Chop too."

"What about Kanan?" Sabine asked.

A sad expression crossed Hera's face at the mention of her romantic partner's name. His closing everyone out since Malachor had only gotten worse over time, and she doubted that he would be willing to help search.

If not for Ezra's injury, Hera had been planning to focus much of her attention on helping Kanan come back to the Rebellion, to come back to their family, to come back to her. She missed his presence desperately, and she knew deep down that Ezra still needed Kanan just as much despite his significant growth.

To Hera, it stilled seemed like just yesterday when Kanan pulled her aside to discuss the possible ramifications from Ezra briefly succumbing to the Darkside on that asteroid. Kanan had been afraid that he wouldn't be able to keep Ezra from falling, that he might not be able to become a Jedi at all. But then they'd traveled to a Jedi temple as padawan and master, and everything seemed to be fine when they returned. Ezra had even earned a Kyber crystal.

It was Kanan's concern for what could happen to Ezra back then that troubled her at the current moment. Because Kanan had been a major part of Ezra's Jedi training back then, and yet he was still concerned by that slip. But now when Ezra was growing at a more advanced rate, both physically as well as with his Jedi powers, Kanan was very much not a part of his training. How could Kanan have been so concerned back then and not now?

Hera didn't get much of a chance at discussing anything else before Sabine's comm chimed at her. "Sabine, I've got a lead on Ezra."

It was Gavyn, and Sabine was quick to respond. "Did he take a speeder?" She asked.

"Yeah," Gavyn confirmed. "Plus, Wini saw him when he was getting ready to head out. She said that he had a thumper with him and that he headed out west."

"Alright," Sabine said. "We'll be there as soon as we can to start tracking him down."

"No need," Gavyn replied. "The speeders already have trackers on them as a safeguard. I've already got a thumper and am heading to his location."

"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Sabine instantly stated, but Gavyn didn't reply to her.

Hera looked at Sabine in confusion, wondering why Sabine thought anyone in the Rebellion going after Ezra would be a negative but decided to let it go for the time being. "Let's go get him," She said.

* * *

Ezra was on a knee, sucking in deep breath after deep breath. He'd gone through as much as his body would allow from the Holocron's instructions, and he could see that he was exactly what the Holocron said. Weak. He wasn't even sure how he'd be able to just drive the speeder back to base because of how sore he was. It was no wonder Sabine wasn't interested in him. He had to get stronger and as fast as he could.

But any more training was going to have to wait as he could hear a speeder just off in the distance and figured someone was coming after him. He closed the Holocron and moved over to his speeder as quickly as he could, putting it away reaching for a rag to wipe some sweat away. He'd just gotten himself presentable when the speeder crested the small hill and parked beside his.

Ezra turned around and saw that the driver was none other than Gavyn, who was the absolute last Rebel Ezra wanted to see. "What are you doing here?"

"We've been looking for you," Gavyn said as he climbed off of his speeder.

"We?"

"Yeah," Gavyn continued. "Sabine and I."

Hearing what Gavyn said took everything Ezra had in him not to react. Sabine and I? Why was he saying Sabine and I? Why couldn't he just stay away from Sabine? Or had she run to him after seeing just how weak Ezra was? All of these questions flowed through Ezra's mind, and that was only the beginning.

Aside from the questions, he also had to tamp down the desire to Force choke the life out of this Rebel. "Why? I can't go on missions or anything."

He managed to say without grumbling, surprising even himself. There wasn't even a single hair on his body that wanted to be around Gavyn, and yet here he was forced into a conversation with the piece of bantha fodder.

"We went to check on you earlier this morning in the med bay, and had to find out from a medical droid that you'd been released," Gavyn explained. "Sabine wasn't too happy to find out about your release that way."

"She would've known if she'd been around the last couple of days." Ezra fired back without thinking. As soon as he'd said it, he wished he could take it back. He was unintentionally giving ground in the battle for Sabine's affection because he wasn't being focused, and was yet another weakness he'd just become aware of.

"That's not her fault you know," Gavyn said, showing a little frustration with Ezra for his attitude about Sabine's perceived absence. "She couldn't keep putting everything and everyone else on hold forever."

Ezra opened his mouth to say more but stopped himself when he suddenly heard the sounds of another speeder approaching. He reached out with the Force and was able to sense that it was Sabine and Hera closing in.

Gavyn didn't notice until Ezra became silent and started to stare out into the distance, but within a minute or two, Sabine was parking her speeder next to the other two. She was obviously angry as she stormed straight up to the two boys. "What the hell are you thinking, Ezra?" She nearly yelled as she stopped only inches in front of him. "You haven't even been released a single day and already are going off on your own out into the middle of nowhere."

"I came out here to meditate, Sabine." Ezra defended with a blatant lie. "Nothing strenuous out here, and last time I checked, meditating should be considered close enough to resting to still count."

Sabine wasn't interested in hearing his excuses. She was completely furious with him at the moment, and that was enough for her to momentarily forget about his injuries as she latched onto his right arm a little too aggressively, causing him to flinch ever so slightly, but it was enough that she immediately noticed.

"Hera, I'm going to take Ezra and his speeder back to base," Sabine said. "Can you and Gavyn take the other two?"

Both Hera and Gavyn agreed, with both of them climbing onto their own speeders, with Gavyn giving Sabine a last look before firing up his speeder and taking off. Sabine didn't see it, but Ezra did. As soon as both Hera and Gavyn were gone, he tried to pull his arm free, but that only caused him more pain.

"Meditation may be another form of resting, Ezra," Sabine said. "But riding a speeder all the way out here isn't. Why would you risk your recovery by coming out here?"

Ezra wanted to fire back at her in anger. He wanted to tell her that she was the reason behind his motivation, but since she'd left him for the last few days and it seemed that she was with Gavyn for part of that time at least, he concluded that if he did open up, she'd only pull farther away from him. "I've been lying around long enough Sabine." He finally said.

"That's not it." She responded. "What aren't you telling me?"

Ezra sighed. This wasn't getting them anywhere. "I have my reasons Sabine, and you wouldn't understand."

"You can't know that for sure if you won't even give me the chance." Sabine continued to push.

"I just can't, Sabine." Was all Ezra would say. "So please don't ask me to."

Sabine was disappointed. She'd thought that Ezra wouldn't hide things from her, and discovering that wasn't the case hurt to know. She didn't like the fact that things were apparently not really getting better between them, but she could be stubborn too. "I'll let it go if you promise to stay on base until you're healthy enough to pass full medical clearance."

"Deal." Ezra agreed readily.

"Good," Sabine responded. "Let's go home then."


	7. Chapter 7: Getting Back to Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra is finally permitted to train again with a little help along the way that Sabine isn't going to like.

* * *

Ezra was chomping at the bit. He'd finally received medical clearance to begin training again, and he had been looking for someone who'd be willing to spar with him so that he could start getting back into shape, but everyone he asked politely declined out of concern for injuring him again. Meditation in the seclusion of his own personal quarters just wasn't going to cut it anymore. So if no one was willing to spar with him, then he would just go off base with the Holocron.

Before his clearance, he'd been forced to be patient, and wait until his burly roommate left their room for his various assignments each day before Ezra could even pull out the Holocron. And unfortunately for him, there was only so much to glean from it without being able to do much physically. For it seemed that the Darkside didn't accentuate the necessity of meditation, and after a few days, it stopped giving him any form of instruction. It began to only open up long enough to tell him that he was weak, and he should disregard the medical recommendations for some actual training.

Hearing that the last few days from the Holocron made Ezra become more and more desperate when things still didn't seem to be getting any better between Sabine and him. She'd been around in the mornings for the most part, but just like with Zeb, she had duties to perform requiring her to leave for most of the day, which left Ezra with nothing to do.

With no help from the Holocron and no one from the Ghost crew to hang around with, Ezra quickly became bored with his surroundings. He even began to wonder if being on the Ghost and away from the med bay was any better or not. The only escape he did have was the two bacta tank sessions, and that was anything but enjoyable.

Eventually though, there was one bright spot to his days, and that was when Wini began to come by with lunch. Ezra had to admit that she had good taste in food, and it was nice to see a friendly face too. It became even more enjoyable when he eventually convinced her that she didn't need to keep thanking him for saving her life. She was a part of the crew, and he was done with allowing the Empire to hurt the Rebels if he could help it in any way.

When things became a little more casual and friendly, Ezra also began to notice just how attractive Wini was. While she wasn't Sabine, she was still very easy on the eyes. And he could understand why some of the other guys on base had an eye for her. Besides, she had more to offer than just her looks. Ezra quickly discovered that she was clever too.

They would eat lunch together in the common area of the Ghost, and she provided Ezra with information on what all was happening concerning training sessions or the occasional mission. She also helped him keep everything cleaned and organized once they were finished eating. In fact, the only way anyone would have known she was there in the first place would've been if Ezra had told them, but he did keep quiet about their lunches, not wanting to hear what would surely be jokes from Zeb and Chop about what they were actually doing with no supervision.

Wini was fast becoming a good friend, and Ezra didn't want to jeopardize that with how fast rumors would circulate. Besides, she could get any guy on the base that she wanted, and he didn't think she was interested in him in that way, aside from her appreciation of being saved.

But now that he was officially cleared, Wini was still aboard the Ghost with him, which meant she was keeping him from training. Ezra didn't want to be rude or come off as unappreciative of her company, but since she was one of the many who declined sparring with him, he did want to get on his own and maybe take the Holocron off base for some actual training.

Lunch had been finished and cleaned up for a while, leaving the two with awkward silence for the first time since she began bringing lunch to Ezra. "So, I imagine you're ready to get out of this ship for a while." Wini finally said in an attempt to break that silence.

"Yeah," He answered as he reached up to rub his neck. "I never thought I'd get tired of this place, but I have to admit it'll be nice to finally get off this ship and actually get to do something other than rest."

"Well, with all that spare time you had, have you decided what you want to do with your new freedom?" She asked.

"Well, since I can't convince anyone to spar with me, I'm going to get back to my Jedi training," Ezra responded. "And speaking of…."

"Off base, I bet." She said, disappointing him a little, as he'd hoped she would take the hint. But it seemed she wasn't ready to go just yet, and then she surprised him with her next words. "I don't suppose…you would mind some company? I've never seen a Jedi train before, and have to admit, I'm curious about how it works."

"So, you're not okay with training with me, but you want to watch me train on my own?" He asked.

He'd never had someone wanting to watch him before aside from Kanan, and that was more because of the need to have instructions provided than actual interest in how Ezra would go about training. In fact, the more he thought about it, Kanan was reluctant to even train him at first, and he wondered if that was partially a lack of interest from his master. Although it was true that Sabine, Zeb, and even Chopper had been with him in his early development, they still weren't there to. Zeb was only looking to be entertained at first, and then he was a helpful participant in saber deflection practice.

"Well yeah," Wini responded. "Plus, how about I make you a deal? After I've seen you train, if everything goes well then I'll agree to sparring with you."

That was an interesting proposition, but the one thing holding Ezra back was that if Wini were to come, he definitely wouldn't be able to bring the Holocron with him. "Are you sure you won't get too bored?" He asked. "Mostly, Jedi training involves focusing the mind and connecting with the Force. I'd bet it's pretty boring for someone to just watch."

"That's alright," Wini responded enthusiastically. "If you don't mind, I'd still like to go. Besides, I think it's your best bet in getting anyone to start sparring with you sooner rather than later."

Ezra nodded to her, not knowing what else to say at that moment and she continued. "Tell you what. How about I go and get us a speeder, and meet you out by the eastern quadrant? You know, where you went last time."

"I don't know," Ezra said. He really wanted to work more with the Holocron, especially considering it had basically shut him out until he could actually train again, but he also figured that the sooner he could get back to all of the physical training, the sooner the Holocron would be willing to work with him.

"C'mon Ezra." Wini practically begged. "It'll be nice to get away from the base, and besides, I think you could use the company. It'll be fun."

"Why not," Ezra finally acquiesced. "I'll grab my stuff and meet you at the east quadrant in five."

"Great!" Wini said, her level of excitement exploding into her voice, but also by how she quickly leapt forward almost into Ezra and placed a brief kiss on his cheek.

Ezra stood there, dumbfounded for a moment. He certainly hadn't been expecting such an act, and honestly didn't quite know how to respond. Fortunately for him, Wini didn't stay there long enough for him to have to react, and instead made her exit to retrieve a speeder bike for the two of them.

It took a minute or two longer after she'd left, but Ezra's higher brain functions eventually began to work again, and allowed him to move back to his room where he grabbed his blaster and lightsaber. Then he turned toward his helmets, briefly looking at the one hiding the Holocron before deciding he would try connecting to it again later on.

* * *

Sabine stopped and bent over, her hands on her knees as she focused on taking deep pulls of air to catch her breath. She'd pushed herself pretty hard that morning, running around the base's perimeter multiple times to finish off what had been a grueling workout, and in the heat of the day no less.

Her workout began with some lightweight training followed by some rigorous calisthenics before finally going on her standard long-distance run. She'd pushed herself like always, but unlike her normal schedule, she'd been forced to wait until later on in the morning to get it in.

Typically, when she worked out, it was early enough in the morning that she was rarely seen by others, and that was the reason why she'd never really given much thought to her workout attire before. But because of the late start, she could practically feel the eyes of others on her as she started to make her way through the base, and she knew that it had to do with her sporting compression shorts and sports bra instead of her normal Mandalorian armor.

She tried her best to ignore all of the ogling, but it quickly became extremely difficult. She was never one to want that kind of attention on herself. Her artwork, sure, but never herself. She wasn't a piece of meat or some pretty object for everyone to desire over, she was a warrior, and she needed her bodysuit and armor back on before someone she actually knew spotted her or she'd never live it down. She was certain of it.

Unfortunately for Sabine, luck was not on her side. "That's an interesting look."

It was Wini. She took solace in the fact that least it wasn't some leering boy who would try hitting on her, or worse, a member of the Ghost crew. "Hey Wini," She replied. "It's a little warm for a workout, and I thought I could get it in without being noticed, but I guess not."

"Well, I'd hurry it up then, because you're definitely going to turn some heads looking like that," Wini said with a smile on her face. "If I were into girls, I'd have a hard time looking away. I knew being a Mandalorian that you'd be in great shape, but I never would've guessed you'd be this ripped. You look amazing."

Sabine appreciated the compliment, but she still felt incredibly uncomfortable about receiving praise for her physical appearance. She needed to end the conversation quickly so she could escape before someone else she knew…"Wow, Sabine." Came Ezra's voice from behind her as he approached the two of them.

Sabine visibly winced. Ezra was the absolute last person she wanted to see her in such a state of undress. She felt naked as it was without her armor on, and this just made it so much worse. Surely Ezra was going to drop some dumb pick-up line or spout off some lame attempt at flirting.

"She just finished her workout." Wini offered when she realized that Sabine had no intention of saying anything.

"Huh," was Ezra's only response externally. On the inside, he was struggling to keep from staring. He knew Sabine would hate it, even as beautiful as she was, and he also had to fight himself to keep from saying something she'd obviously think was dumb too. But the only thing he could come up with was to try and change the subject. "Did you get us a speeder, Wini?"

"Yep," she confirmed. "We're all set if you're ready."

"Wait, you're both going out somewhere?" Sabine asked. A part of her was surprised that Ezra seemed to completely disregard the skimpy outfit she was in, and she was only further surprised by realizing how much that actually hurt her pride. After all the years of Ezra chasing after her, she figured he would be practically drooling at getting to see more of her skin, and in reality, he wasn't even giving her the time of day.

"Well, since I'm allowed to train again and no one's willing to spar with me yet, Wini asked if she could come and watch some Jedi training," Ezra answered.

"I've never gotten to see a Jedi train before, and I thought it'd be interesting," Wini added.

Sabine frowned a bit. While she too had caught herself admiring some early times when Kanan first began training Ezra, there was this feeling deep in the pit of her stomach that told her watching a Jedi train wasn't the only reason Wini wanted to tag along.

"I'm ready," Ezra said. "We should probably get going."

"I'll be right behind you," Wini said, as she pointed out the speeder just a few paces away from them. She waited until Ezra was just out of earshot before turning fully to the other female. "You know, I was beginning to think the other girls were right about getting Ezra's attention."

"What do you mean?" Sabine asked. Other girls? Why were there seemingly multiple girls who craved attention from Ezra? When did this start happening?

"Oh, come on Sabine," Wini chuckled in disbelief. "All of the girls on base think he's cute, and they've all said the same things."

"What things?"

"You seriously don't know?" Wini asked in surprise, to which Sabine nodded in confirmation. She had no idea what Wini was referring to.

"That you're the only one he's ever had eyes for," Wini explained. "But from what I've seen, you haven't even tried making a move, and if you're not interested, then he should be fair game. Wish me luck."

Sabine was instantly angered. She wanted to say something, but Wini ran off to the speeder before she could think of what to say. While she believed that Wini was a good person, Sabine didn't think Ezra and Wini would be a good fit. Ezra took too many risks, and he needed someone strong who could always have his back. That just wasn't Wini.

"I'll see you later Sabine." He said as he briefly stopped the speeder in front of her. Wini seemed comfortable sitting behind him, with her arms securely around his waist, and that managed to infuriate her more. However, once again she didn't get a word in as Ezra offered a two-fingered salute before they took off, heading outside of the base perimeter to only Ezra knew where.

Before they were even out of sight, Sabine was absolutely fuming. She was hurt, angry, confused. Sabine was so distracted by the emotions rolling through her that she didn't even notice the male Rebels who continued to ogle her as she stormed off toward the Ghost, and a few of them weren't even trying to be subtle about their enjoying of the view. There were even a couple of other unfortunate Rebels who went as far as trying to get her attention, hoping at the very least for a few more moments of viewing pleasure, but she wasn't having any of that either.

Sabine didn't even respond to Hera as she marched into the Ghost, but Hera could easily see that Sabine was upset and followed after her. "What's wrong, Sabine," she asked as the young Mandalorian headed straight into her quarters.

"Nothing," Sabine muttered as she began to pace back and forth before punching a wall. "Why would I need to be angry? He can do whatever he damn well pleases."

"Who?"

"And so what if she's interested in him." Sabine continued, ignoring Hera's question. "It's not like I wanted anything more than friendship with him."

At that, Hera stepped into Sabine's path and grabbed her attention by placing both hands on Sabine's shoulders. "What is going on?"

"Wini is interested in Ezra." Sabine reluctantly answered. "And apparently there are other girls who are interested too, but were all too scared of me to try. As if I would be the reason for them to stay away from him."

"Well Sabine, Ezra hasn't exactly made it a secret that he was been interested in you," Hera said, a smile beginning to grow on her face. "And you two do work well together, so it isn't surprising that they would think something was going on between the two of you."

"But I've never even done anything to show that I was interested," Sabine said. "I didn't even want him to be interested in me in the first place!"

"I know it's not your fault, Sabine," Hera said, trying to calm the young woman's emotions. "You just have to put yourself in their position is all I'm saying. You're a Mandalorian woman who caught Ezra's eye very early on. Your warrior heritage is most likely the reason why others think you wouldn't appreciate public displays of affection, not to mention I'd think something was wrong if another girl wasn't intimidated by you if they had any reason to believe you two might be together."

"That certainly isn't stopping Wini," Sabine grumbled.

"Well, Wini has been coming around ever since we rescued Ezra from the mission they were both injured on." Hera explained.

"She's been coming around here, spending time with Ezra?" Sabine asked.

"You didn't know?" Hera answered with another question, and Sabine shook her head in response. "At first it was to thank him for saving her life, but I think she's still been coming around. But if she is interested, what's there to be upset about? Maybe she can make him happy. Besides, you did say that you aren't interested in him in that way. Unless you didn't actually mean that."

"No, no," Sabine said. "I meant it."

Hera was right. She wasn't interested in Ezra like that and she had no reason to be angry. If Wini was interested in Ezra and he felt the same toward her, then who was Sabine to be angry about it. It made complete sense, but then why was she still so angry about it? Why was she so hurt that Ezra didn't even really look at her when she was so exposed physically?

* * *

Wini marveled as Ezra continued to hold himself upside down by one hand. He'd been at it for quite some time, and with it being his first day of physical training since his injury, she found herself wondering just how much better shape he'd been in before. She was also impressed by the sight of him simultaneously floating some heavy boulders around him too.

She subconsciously licked her lips as she continued to watch, the muscles in Ezra's bare arms on full display for her viewing pleasure. While his powers with the Force were certainly impressive, that was definitely not the reason she was there with him.

Wini had become completely smitten with Ezra ever since she was told about how he saved her from almost certain death. She'd heard from some of the other girls about how attractive they all thought he was, and she had to agree. But like the others, she also initially believed the rumors that there was something going on between Ezra and Sabine.

However, she wasn't simply one to just take someone's word over what she could see for herself, and what she saw was that if there had been something going on between Sabine and Ezra, it either ended or at the very least had soured incredibly. And that was the only opening she needed. Plus, if Ezra's initial response to a little kiss on the cheek was any indication, then things seemed to be going the direction she was hoping for.

She continued to watch him as Ezra slowly transitioned over to his other hand before rising back up on his fingertips. Only this time there was a slight quivering she could make out as he began to struggle, but she was still quite impressed.

"What you're doing is amazing," she said. "Especially if you take into account all the time you haven't been able to train."

"I've got some ground to make up," he responded as he began to lose his grip on the boulders floating around him. He held on for as long as he could, but eventually, everything including him dropped to the ground. Ezra couldn't believe how much weaker he'd become over just a few short weeks. He was winded even from the amount of effort he'd been putting into the workout, and needed to catch his breath as he continued to sit on the ground.

"Well, if that is what you call being behind, then I can't wait to see what you can do when you're back to full strength," Wini replied.

"How about you help me with one last thing before I call it a day?" Ezra asked.

"Sure," Wini excitedly said as she jumped to her feet. "Just tell me what you want me to do."

"Take out your blaster and shoot at me," He answered quickly.

"What?" Wini asked in disbelief. That was something she hadn't expected him to say.

"It's part of my training," Ezra answered as if it was no big deal. "You shoot at me, and I'll deflect the blasts with my lightsaber. The goal is to direct the blasts where I want to, but for today I'll settle for sending them all up into the sky."

"Are you sure?" She asked in concern.

"Definitely," Ezra answered confidently. " I need the practice, but don't worry, I'll be fine."

Wini was still unsure but complied with his request as she pulled out her blaster, took aim, and squeezed the trigger. The result only added to her entertainment and admiration, as Ezra's lightsaber came to life, and with an upward swing, he sent her blaster bolt into the sky above him.

She knew that during missions with Ezra, it was very likely that he did this regularly and she would've had to seen him doing this, but that was in the heat of the moment, preventing her from truly appreciating this specific talent of his.

She assumed being a Jedi had to help with his reflexes or else he'd be like anyone else, and be either too early or too late to deflect the bolt. But he was a Jedi and because of that, he could send the blaster bolts away from him, and so she squeezed the trigger again and again, and enjoyed the display Ezra put on.

* * *

After her brief conversation with Hera, Sabine tried to keep her focus on completing her assigned duties around the base. She found that it was a little easier to do this once she had changed into her armor, but still, every once in a while, she would catch herself looking out to the base perimeter in the hopes of spotting a returning speeder.

And each time, Sabine wanted to slap herself silly because she knew the real reason behind it. She wasn't looking out there out of concern for Ezra's well-being. No, her problem was about the company he was keeping. She just couldn't quite work past the emotions that she wasn't used to dealing with.

Ezra hadn't ever shown an interest in another girl before aside from Sabine, and he'd never asked anyone aside from members of the Ghost crew to help him with any of his training before either. That caused Sabine to assume Wini was getting close to Ezra, and in Sabine's opinion, a little too close.

But thinking like that allowed Sabine's mind to start wandering again. At first, she wandered just how Ezra might've been like before he joined the Ghost crew. For the first time, she pondered on if perhaps he used those lame pickup lines or his attempts at flirting on girls before her? Had they worked? Or did he even need to resort to that before he'd met Sabine? Perhaps he used them on her because she was the first girl who didn't show a romantic interest in him and that was why he tried them on her.

Did he perhaps use those same tactics on Wini? No, she quickly decided with a shake of her head. That wasn't the type of person she knew Ezra to be. If he'd been some type of player or womanizer, surely she would've seen it quite some time ago. Besides, the pickup lines he did try on her were completely corny at best and atrocious at worst, which meant he couldn't have that much experience or success with them.

Also, as she'd gotten to know him better, she came to realize that he wasn't just some loth-rat who only looked out for himself, but rather he was a compassionate soul who'd been given the rough end of it for a large chunk of his life. Without having his parents around, there'd been no one else to step up and protect him until he'd already more than doubled in age. It understandably took him some time to move out of his natural instinct to do what he needed just to survive, but when he did, that was when she saw who he really was.

Before she realized it, AP-5 had managed to sneak up on her while she was still reflecting. "Is this the type of work ethic I can expect from all of the Rebels?" He whined, which was what she needed to be snapped back to reality.

"No AP," She responded with a frustrated sigh. "I've just got some things on my mind right now. So, where were we?"

"We were about to inventory all of the remaining munitions after the previous mission's completion." He answered. "As the so-called weapons expert, you were supposed to review and confirm what will need to be replenished."

"Alright then. Let's get started." Sabine replied while giving one last look to the base perimeter before following the droid.

What Sabine didn't know was that if she'd kept looking for just a few more seconds, she would have spotted Ezra and Wini's speeder popping into view as they returned to base.

Once they were within the perimeter, Ezra parked the speeder in its designated location before offering his hand to help Wini dismount the bike. While she didn't need the assistance, she still appreciated the gesture, and graciously took his offered hand as she climbed off. For a split second, she considered trying to lace their fingers together, but didn't want to ruin all the progress she'd made with Ezra by getting greedy.

Her plan was to play the slow game. She knew how crushes worked, and assumed Ezra may bulk at anyone if they were too aggressive in pursuing Ezra. He needed to see that there were options as good as, if not better than Sabine for him to be open about dating someone else.

So somewhat reluctantly, when Ezra's hand began to loosen around hers, she released her hold as well. "Thank you for letting me come with you," she said to him with a friendly smile. "It was a really interesting experience, and I hope we can do that again sometime. I had fun."

"Me too," he responded with a friendly smile. "It was nice having someone out there to talk to."

"If I'd known that you were on your own out there or that you'd say yes, I would've asked to come a long time ago. I just always thought that you and the older Jedi, Kanan I think his name is, were always out there together."

"It is Kanan," Ezra confirmed, disappointment laced in his voice. "And we used to go train together a lot, but it hasn't been like that since he lost his sight."

Wini saw and heard the distinct change in Ezra's demeanor. It was almost palpable. He'd been in such a good mood up until Kanan's name was brought up, and she instantly wanted to kick herself for it. "I'm sorry," She said. "I didn't know that he wasn't going anymore, and that it was a sore subject for you."

"It's alright," Ezra responded, managing to plaster a fake smile on his face even though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "I know you didn't mean anything by it, and besides, maybe it's actually a blessing in disguise, having to training alone. Without Kanan there, I had to learn how to become stronger on my own, and I didn't have anything or anyone to fall back on as a crutch or to have as an excuse."

"Well, from what I saw just now, I'd say that you've done an excellent job." Wini offered in encouragement. "I know that I was impressed by what you can do, and not just from seeing you train today. You were impressive out in the field too."

"Speaking of," Ezra said. "We should probably see what's left to do for today. I don't know about you, but I don't want to have any daily tasks assigned to me be the reason I'm not allowed to be a part of the next mission."

Wini was hesitant to agree, not wanting their time together to end, but she knew Ezra was right. She also knew just how driven he was to be involved with any mission, his belief that his abilities were an asset the Rebels had been missing for the past few weeks already. She had to remind herself internally again that the correct play was to take things slowly. She wanted to make sure she had a solid plan in place too, and wanted to talk to someone about the next steps to take in advancing things to something with more intimacy between herself and the younger Jedi.

So, after saying their farewells, Wini departed in what didn't seem to be anything other than a random, general direction to Ezra as he stood there watching her leave. Once she was out of sight, he started to make his way toward the Ghost and the Holocron.

He didn't even make it five steps before a "Hey kid!" shout came from behind him, informing him that Zeb was approaching. When he was within reach, the Lasat slapped Ezra on the shoulder. "You know kid, that moment right there with the girl," he said. "If you were looking for the right time to kiss the girl, that was it."

"What?" Ezra asked in confusion and a little surprise as well. "What are you talking about?"

"She wanted you to kiss her." Zeb pointed out as though it should've been the most obvious thing in the galaxy for anyone to notice.

"No," Ezra denied. "She could get anyone she wants. She's just still being thankful because she thinks I saved her life."

"For once kid, you and I agree on something," Zeb responded with a wicked grin on his face. "She can get anyone she wants, but what you're missing is that you fall into that group. And who she wants right now, flawed as her logic must be, is you kid."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to admit, this chapter was a bit of a struggle. I planned to have it published by the end of last week, but ended up basically rewriting it because I didn't like the flow of it when I was proofreading it. I'm sure I missed some stuff here with all the new material, so I'm preemptively apologizing for the glaring grammatical errors I'm sure are in here. I hope I haven't lost all of those of you who read and were kind enough to review in the first few chapters.
> 
> Up next, Ezra is back in action, and the jealousy bug continues to grow for both Sabine and Ezra.


	8. Chapter 8: Call for Help

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As things on base return to normal, a friend in need comes along

With Ezra having returned to participating missions, things around the Atollon base seemed to go back to normal once again, for the most part. The overall focus had returned to growing the Rebellion and occasionally taking it to the Empire whenever an opportunity presented itself. Supplies were now being brought in with more regularity and training sessions had fully resumed, but for some, the more personal side was anything but back to normal.

Sabine, for one, was exceptionally moody for several reasons, and none of them were known to anyone else. That left everyone else to pure speculation as to the only explanations to be offered. She'd become exceptionally fierce whenever Rex had the Rebels face off in sparring sessions, as even Ezra hadn't managed to avoid her wrath the only time they faced off against each other.

In fact, it was during that match where he learned just how far ahead of him Sabine still was in hand to hand combat. Had Ezra not resorted to utilizing his Force powers, Sabine would've had him either out cold or submitting within the first two minutes. Even as it stood with the help of the Force, he only managed to keep her from completely humiliating him in the eyes of others. Regardless, the result was still the same, gifting him with a sore jaw and some nasty bruising on his arms and legs.

That also brought about a vigorous argument between the two of them which ended with Sabine virtually dragging a somewhat terrified Gavyn behind her once Ezra and she arrived at an impasse. That impasse was Ezra wanting to know what her problem was and Sabine standing her ground by saying that there wasn't anything wrong with her. She'd even gone so far as to suggest that he needed to ask that question to himself.

* * *

_"_ _How can you say that you don't have a problem when you've been so aggressive against everyone you've been training with lately?" Ezra asked with his voice rising steadily as he followed after an angry Sabine._

_"_ _Because it's not me who has the problem, Ezra!" Sabine adamantly fired right back. "Maybe all of you just need to learn how to fight better."_

_"_ _I'm not the one who's taking their frustration out on everyone else." Ezra pointed out. "You're lucky no one was seriously hurt. And to think, you took issue with how I sparred against your new best friend a little over a month ago. Now you're just being a hypocrite."_

_Sabine's eyes widened for a split second before she immediately narrowed them, anger quickly beginning to sap any chance at logic breaking through. A cooler head would've realized that Ezra had made a valid point, but Sabine was quite a distance away from having a cool head at that particular moment. "Speaking of Gavyn," Sabine growled. "Since he's obviously my new best friend, he would be the one to tell me if I'm being too aggressive in training, but he hasn't said a word."_

_Ezra snorted at Sabine's lame excuse for how she'd been acting. "Maybe he's just being nice to stay on your good side," Ezra suggested. "I'm pretty sure that's been his goal this whole time anyway."_

_"_ _The difference between what you did and what you're accusing me of is that I'm not treating anyone any differently, but you singled Gavyn out," Sabine replied._

_"_ _So, I treat one person like crap and that's horrible, but you treat everyone like crap and it's perfectly acceptable?" Ezra angrily asked. He'd just about had enough of Sabine's poor attitude, and especially with how hypocritical she was being._

_"_ _You don't know what you're talking about." Sabine vehemently fired back._

_"_ _Oh, I don't know what I'm talking about?" Ezra heatedly parroted. "You've been acting like this ever since I started training again. Or maybe it's that Wini was the only person willing to spar with me and I took her up on her offer."_

_"_ _Di'kut," Sabine grumbled. "You just proved my point. You training again has nothing to do with how I train with others. Oh, and by the way, this whole thing here, you started after we just finished sparring. So Wini isn't the only one willing to spar with you."_

_"_ _Well, with the way you're acting, you're going to have a hard time finding anyone to spar with," Ezra said. "But why would you listen to me? You think I don't know what I'm talking about."_

_Ezra then turned to leave, having nothing more he wanted to say to her at that moment. Sabine didn't wait around either and instead went the opposite direction toward where she was certain Gavyn would be. He'd serve as confirmation that Ezra was wrong and that she wouldn't have a problem at all finding someone who'd spar with her going forward. As Ezra had said, Gavyn was her friend, and as her friend, she knew that he wouldn't let her down._

* * *

After their last little blowup, Ezra and Sabine had both independently concluded that some space was needed between the two of them. What they didn't know though, was that their counterpart equally struggled with maintaining that space.

When Sabine did cool down a little, she realized that Ezra was correct about how she was acting. He'd only gotten the part about it having to do with his training being the cause wrong. Rather, it was what she overheard later that day which was the actual trigger.

Sabine had been walking through the base after partaking in some target practice with Gavyn when she overheard some giggling off to the side of the hangar. Under normal circumstances, she wouldn't have given such a sound a second glance, but it just so happened that in the midst of all that giggling, she also heard Ezra's name amidst the playful laughter.

Her curiosity piqued, she moved in closer, finding a crate to slink in behind without being noticed. From there, she found a small group of girls lounging around with drinks in their hands. Ensuring she wasn't spotted, she managed to make out the new, young pilot named Cleat along with Lissa and Cerra, who were all looking directly at the smiling face of Wini in the middle of the group.

"Honestly, I think the stars kind of aligned for me is all, I swear," Wini told the group of seemingly eager girls around her.

"Oh, come on, Shif," Lissa complained. "You can't honestly expect us to believe that it was just written in the stars for you to wind up with him, can you? You can tell us how you broke the hold she's always had over him."

"That's just it," Wini responded. "I don't think I really did anything. If he hadn't saved my life during that mission, then I'm probably still in the same position as anyone else aside from Sabine. So, now I just have to make sure I don't screw up my chance."

"What do you mean?" Cerra asked. "I thought you were already in with him."

"A kiss on his cheek isn't anything to write home about it," Wini answered with a scoff. "I mean, he's let me go out with him while he trains and we've wrestled around a bit during some sparring matches, but he hasn't even tried to make a move yet."

Sabine wasn't sure why, but a smile crept up on her face upon hearing that Ezra and Wini hadn't actually gotten physical yet. But she knew that "yet" was the keyword in that thought as Wini continued.

"That's why I'm here with you all" Wini said. "I'm hoping that you guys can help me come up with a plan to sort of coax Ezra into seeing that he can have more if he wants it."

"What's wrong with the direct approach? Cleat asked. "It's always worked for me."

"Has that worked with anyone else when it comes to Ezra?" Wini asked in response.

"No," Cerra replied. "From what I've been told, if Sabine were to do it, I think he'd notice, but as for everyone else, he seems to be oblivious."

"Maybe that's partly because of all the times she's rejected him," Wini added. "I can't prove it, but I think he stopped letting me go with him while he trains because he knew that she didn't like me going with him."

"If she isn't interested in being with him aside from friendship, then I don't understand why she wouldn't just be happy for him," Lissa said.

"And according to Ezra, she is his best friend," Wini pointed out. "Even though they haven't been getting along lately, he still feels that way, and I don't want him to think I'm causing an increase in the strain between the two of them if I can help it."

"And you say she knows that you're interested in Ezra?" Lissa asked for confirmation.

"Yeah," Wini confirmed confidently. "I mean, before I went off base with Ezra for the first time, I talked to Sabine about how I didn't think she was interested, and that if it was true, then he should be fair game for someone else. She didn't say anything, and I asked her to wish me luck. I might not have come right out and said it, but I definitely didn't make it difficult to know that I'm interested."

Sabine was grinding her teeth by this point. She hadn't spoken up and knew that Wini was speaking the truth. She could've said something to refute the idea that she wasn't interested in Ezra, but why would she have? And more importantly, why was she now wishing that she had?

She was supposed to be Ezra's friend, and the girls were right. She should be happy that someone was interested in Ezra, but she wasn't. Not even a little bit. And she wasn't angry either. She didn't know what she was feeling, but what she did know, was that she didn't like it.

By that point, Sabine had heard enough and just wanted to slink away unnoticed, but as she began backing away, her communicator chimed, indicating she had an incoming message while also giving away her eavesdropping position. She immediately knew that she was caught red-handed, and just gave in, simply standing with her back facing the group of girls as she activated her comm and walked away.

"Sabine," Came the voice of her friend, Ketsu through the speaker before the 3-D image even had the chance to appear.

"Ketsu," She responded in surprise, wondering what had her old sister was reaching out. "What's up?"

"I'm in a bit of trouble," Ketsu explained. "And I may need some help if you're willing, little sister."

"Sure," Sabine said without an ounce of hesitation. "Just let me know what you need."

"My ship's damaged," Ketsu said. "I guess the Black Sun wasn't happy after all when they found out that I was leaving them for the Rebellion. Right now, I'm losing altitude over Garel, and the Shadow Caster isn't responsive. So, it's looking like this is going to be a crash landing, and I'm going to need a pick up if you can manage too."

"Just send me your coordinates, and I'll be there as soon as I can," Sabine said as she started to jog in the direction of the Ghost.

The girls in the hangar, however, just stood there, dumbfounded until Sabine was out of sight. Once the Mandalorian was gone, their brains finally started to function again. "How much do you think she heard?" Cerra asked.

"My guess would be all of it," Lissa responded as she looked over to the one who had gathered them all together in the first place. "Sorry, Wini."

"Well, she definitely has to know that you're interested in Ezra now," Cleat half teased before she decided to return to her fighter.

* * *

Ezra was meditating with the Sith Holocron in his personal quarters. He finally seemed to be back on good terms with the A.I. of the Sith database again. It'd been difficult at first, not because of the Holocron, but because of the new company he'd been keeping. He actually wasn't all that broken up about Sabine's attitude when she found out that Wini was accompanying him for his Jedi training.

While he didn't understand what Sabine was so upset about, it did give him a better excuse than "I want time with a Darkside artifact and I don't want anyone else to know it." The Holocron seemed to agree with him too, but it also continued to tell him how he'd been presented with an opportunity to get Sabine if he still wanted her to be his.

Upon hearing this, Ezra's initial reaction was almost laughing at such a notion. Of course, he still wanted to be with Sabine, but he didn't understand how it could work in his favor. Things between Sabine and he were still getting worse, and nothing about spending time with Wini seemed to be improving things.

Besides, there was just something about using his growing friendship with Wini that made him feel dirty to even consider using her. She'd been nothing but nice to him, he did find her attractive. She just wasn't Sabine, but that wasn't her fault. And besides, Sabine just didn't seem to be interested in him that way at all. So, if she wasn't, then maybe he did need to look elsewhere. After all, things had gotten so bad that she wasn't even considering him on her missions anymore.

As Ezra continued to ponder what to do about his current situation, some ruckus outside his door brought him out of his meditative state. He briefly glanced at his chronometer and decided that it'd be best to put the Holocron away anyhow. Surely, Zeb would be arriving sooner rather than later, and so he closed the Sith artifact before opening the door, only to hear Sabine in the middle of a discussion with Hera.

"…in trouble, Hera." She said. "If she actually asked for help, then it has to be bad."

"I understand Sabine and I haven't forgotten what she did, but you're still not going on your own," Hera replied with a stern look on her face.

"Who's in trouble," Ezra asked, butting into the conversation.

"Ezra can come with me then," Sabine offered instantly. "But we need to leave now."

"Fine but Chop comes along too," Hera conceded. "Take the Phantom and bring her back safely."

"Okay," Sabine agreed, not wanting to delay getting to Ketsu any longer than necessary. "Come on Ezra. I'll explain once we're in hyperspace."

As Ezra watched Sabine disappear in the direction of the Phantom, he immediately knew that she wasn't going to wait for anyone or anything, so he began to follow after her, but also reached back with the Force to pull his lightsaber to him.

* * *

The ride to Garel was rather quiet compared to any of the other missions that Ezra and Sabine were on together. The main difference this time though, was Sabine's focus on how to reach her sister, Ketsu, and Ezra's basically walking on eggshells around her. He wanted to talk to her, to see where they stood, but he knew that she wasn't in a good place to try getting into that, so instead he readied himself as best he could for the task at hand.

As soon as they arrived above the planet, Sabine managed to locate a spaceport for them to land just on the outskirts of Garel City, and then she went right to work alongside Chopper. They focused on any type of communication that could be hacked into in the hopes of hearing some type of chatter, while Ezra left the ship to try finding any leads his way.

Once he was out and among the populous, Ezra reached out into the Force. His goal was to look for any emotions that seemed to be out of place. Perhaps he would get lucky and sense someone who witnessed the Shadow Caster crash landing. After all, a crashing ship was certainly something that should have caused some excitement.

The one thing they didn't do was move hastily though. Both of them knew that there were still questions that remained unanswered. Questions such as who was actually after Ketsu? While she had assumed that it was the Black Sun, Ketsu hadn't provided them any solid evidence to support that claim.

Still, it wasn't difficult to believe or accept that the Black Sun was the most likely culprit for the time being, but they also couldn't allow themselves to forget about the Empire as a distinct possibility either. There was even a part of them that hoped it was the Empire, if only for the simple fact that bucket heads were far easier to spot than members of the Black Sun would be.

In order to run a successful criminal industry, the ability to blend into one's surroundings is paramount. It was also far more efficient when seeking someone out as well, and both Sabine and Ezra knew that if they were indeed up against the crime syndicate, they would need to be especially aware of their surroundings, or they might become easy targets themselves.

To help combat this, Ezra used his abilities with the Force. As he walked through the town, anyone who didn't know better would've thought that he was utterly lost. He didn't seem to be going in any specific direction and looked more like he was just wandering around aimlessly. In reality, though, he just hadn't been able to sense anything really out of place to that point.

As he continued reaching out, everyone's emotions just seemed to be normal for the area. Random merchants ranged anywhere from happy to frustrated based on that day's work, and the general populous only seemed to have more of a wide range of emotions. Nothing seemed to stand out, but that quickly changed when he came across a local cantina.

From that building, Ezra was able to pick up on strong emotions of elation radiating off of some while others were covered by a hazy fog, likely brought about by their choice of drink. But there were a few who triggered his senses with a large amount of frustration and even some anger. It wasn't, but being that there weren't any other leads to go off of, Ezra figured it was worth investigating.

"Spectre six to Spectre five," He called out into his communicator. "I might have something, but I'm not sure yet. I'm going into a local cantina close to the east end."

"Be careful, Spectre six," Sabine replied. "Spectre three and I finished combing over every form of communication we could get our hands-on, and there's absolutely nothing being reported. It's almost too quiet if you ask me."

"I'll keep my eyes open," Ezra answered.

"Let me know when you leave," Sabine replied. "I'll head that way and see if I can't help figure it out. We obviously aren't doing any good here listening to comm chatter. But if you are still there when I come inside, don't acknowledge me."

"Understood," Ezra said as he shut off his comm and headed toward the cantina entrance. Once inside, the first thing he noticed was how dimly lit it was inside. He gave the place just a quick once over, not wanting to appear like he was there for any reason aside from coming in for a drink.

From what he initially saw, no one there made him think that they might not be a part of the Black Sun. Everyone seemed to be at least somewhat shady, but he was certain that what he'd felt earlier came from inside the bar. So, he kept a low profile and headed to the bar where he ordered himself a drink before he once again reached out through the Force.

He was able to search everyone at the bar by the time his drink was handed to him, but he still hadn't managed to ascertain who had been putting off the larger than normal angry frustration before. And no one there was giving him that same feeling.

Meanwhile, Sabine had just arrived at the entrance of the cantina. She instantly spotted Ezra by the bar, sipping on a drink, and she made to avoid him by finding an open seat toward one of the exterior walls. From what she could tell, everyone inside the cantina fit in with who one would expect to be there. And just like with Ezra, no one seemed to stand out to her as a questionable possibility.

She wondered if this was just a big waste of time, and if it were any other situation or anyone else, she would've just turned right back around, but she was with Ezra. While he might've been just a kid when they first met, he'd never given her a reason to doubt him before and she wasn't about to this time. For a little bit of time, she was going to play along, maybe get herself a drink, and then if nothing stood out, she would make her leave.

But ever since Sabine walked in the door, Ezra became bombarded with different emotions from quite a few patrons. Most of them were filled with apprehension, likely the result of seeing a Mandalorian, but there were a handful of characters off in a corner who were setting off some red flags to him.

These people were instantly filled with elation instead of surprise about seeing Sabine, and it was strong enough that Ezra couldn't help but to glance in their direction. What he could then see with his own eyes was enough to confirm any lingering suspicion as well. One of the men facing Sabine's back tried and failed to discreetly point her out as they all leaned in closer to each other, obviously discussing something quietly amongst themselves.

The Rodian with his back to Sabine reached for his blaster, and Ezra almost leaped up to defend her, but then noticed that the Rodian wasn't pulling out his blaster, he just kept his hand on it. There was definitely something going on with these guys and it definitely had to do with Sabine. The question was why they were so interested in her. So, Ezra quickly finished his drink and then headed right for the exit.

Sabine noticed this and initially wondered why Ezra would just leave so abruptly unless perhaps, he'd spotted something. Fortunately, she had yet to have someone come to her table to take her drink order, so she made her way over to the bar where Ezra had been standing previously and requested her drink from there.

She didn't waste time with her beverage, quickly paying for and then downing it in a couple of gulps as soon as it was handed to her. Her moving to the bar was in the hopes that Ezra would've put something out for her to pick up on, but he didn't leave anything, which left her a little frustrated. She didn't like being left in the dark, but just then, her comm chimed, and that gave her reason to head out for some privacy.

Catching her by surprise, a group of people slid their chairs out loudly as soon as she started to head out, causing her to glance back at the noise. She counted four of them trying not to look at her as they stood up and began to make their exits as well.

As soon as she was outside, Ezra made himself noticeable to her and immediately gestured to her that four individuals had gotten his attention. She knew these were the same men she'd seen, and gestured for Ezra that she was going to lead them away so that they could set a trap. All she needed him to do was follow behind so that he could box them in.

And this was why she wanted Ezra to come along. They both seemed to know what the other was thinking. They didn't need to speak to each other and just seemed to know. So, she would lead these men away, and when they were where she and Ezra wanted, the trap would be sprung.

Sabine made sure to keep going at a pace that wasn't too fast to seem like she was trying to get away, but also not too slow for the men following her to catch up. It was a delicate balance to pull off without being able to check behind her, but she did it beautifully.

She continued to draw them into the spaceport she had landed in and left the doors open. As soon as she was inside, she ducked off to the side and looked for anything that might provide some form of cover.

Sabine didn't have to wait long, and it was more than obvious that these goons had no military training. They weren't even being that careful, as all of them marched straight into the port, not anticipating that she would be waiting for them to come into view. As soon as the door slid shut behind them, she opened fire and instantly knocked the one closest to her down with a single blast. It was a good start, but by opening fire on them, Sabine only opened the flood gates as the remaining three men returned fire.

She knew that she was pinned down and outgunned because of the situation around her. Aside from her meager cover, the area was wide open, and if she were to step out, she'd only be opening herself up. Under normal circumstances similar to this, she would fall back to her default defense of utilizing her explosives, but in this instance, she needed at least one of them alive for questioning.

But, while the remaining men in the spaceport were indeed not military, they still understood the basic concept of how to subdue an opponent when they had the numbers. As two provided cover fire, the other moved into a better position so that they could begin boxing Sabine in. Once he was in a good position, he joined in to continue with supplying cover fire, and another one then moved.

By the time her opposition had successfully surrounded her, Sabine knew that she was only moments away from being defeated if she didn't resort to using her miracles. As she began to accept that she was out of options, she briefly wondered where Ezra was. Had she read his cues incorrectly and inadvertently put herself in such a precarious position?

Brimming with confidence, the three remaining men advanced on Sabine's position. In a matter of seconds, they had her pinned down to the point that she could barely get a shot off without endangering herself in the process. And when victory was just within their grasp, suddenly their blaster arms involuntarily shot up to the air. Before they could figure out what happened, they were all flying through the air, with each one of them slamming bodily into a wall and knocking them all unconscious.

"Took you long enough," Sabine huffed as she popped up and out what little remained of her cover.

"I wanted to make sure it was just the four of them before I came in," Ezra explained as he picked up blasters from two of the downed men. "And besides, I knew I could count on you to hold them off."

Sabine wanted to argue, but she couldn't help but appreciate the vote of confidence he'd just admitted to having in her. "Let's just get these hut'uuns restrained before they come to, and then maybe we'll finally get some answers."

Ezra and Sabine then went to work restraining the surviving three thugs. Unfortunately, they wouldn't be able to separate each prisoner so that they could use them against each other, but this wasn't an ideal situation. The Phantom was almost as wide open as the spaceport they were docked in.

The one fortunate thing they did have go their way, was that their prisoners didn't take too long before they began to come to, and once all three men were conscious, Sabine began the interrogation by pulling out her blaster. "Alright, sleemo's," She called out. "Who here is going to tell me what I want to know?"

Two of the men simply scoffed at her question, while the third was a tad more vocal. "None of us will talk, and there's nothing you can do to make us."

"Maybe a blaster wound to your leg will help loosen your tongues," Sabine said as she placed the end of her blaster just above that man's knee.

He only smiled up at her. "Do your worst, Mandalorian," he said. "I've been shot before. You still won't get anything from us."

Ezra then stepped forward. He knew that they spoke the truth and intended to go through any form of torture Sabine or he would be willing to dole out, but he also knew that there was another option they could use, something he'd learned from the Sith Holocron. "Let me try something," he said as he stepped in front of their prisoners.

Sabine was just as confused about what Ezra planned to do as their prisoners. They'd already called her bluff, and she knew Ezra was less inclined to resort to torture than she was. Which only made her more curious about what Ezra was up to.

So, she watched as he slowly paced in front of each of the three prisoners at first. She figured that he was deciding who the lucky person was going to be, and he proved her assumption correct when he turned back to the man in the middle. Then he raised his hand in front of that prisoner's face and closed his eyes.

At first, nothing seemed to be happening, but soon enough she noticed the strain growing on Ezra's face. Then the prisoner's face suddenly contorted into one of pain. The prisoner began to groan in discomfort as he tried to shy away from Ezra's hand.

The level of effort Ezra was forced to use caused beads of sweat to grow on Ezra's brow as he struggled to break through, but he wasn't about to let this piece of Bantha fodder get the better of him. So, he redoubled his focus on what he was trying to do, or rather, what he was doing. There is no try.

Sabine continued to watch closely as Ezra continued doing whatever it was with the Force. She may not have known what he was doing, but she could take comfort in the fact that it was making things uncomfortable for one of the di'kuts who tried to slag her. And after a couple more minutes, it seemed that he was making some headway when the man began to scream in pain.

"He doesn't know where she is," Ezra suddenly said. "They were following orders to take out anyone who showed up to try and rescue Ketsu before they found her."

One of the other captives didn't try to hide the look of shock on his face upon hearing Ezra revealing their orders. He didn't know how Ezra did it, but the information had clearly been forcibly taken if their comrade's continued screams were anything to go by.

"The crash site was just out passed the south side," Ezra continued. "But they've already removed any evidence, including Ketsu's ship."

"Do you know how many we're up against?" Sabine asked.

Ezra wanted to find that out for her, but he had to release his grip, as he was already exhausted from the effort it took to find out what he did. He was breathing heavily, albeit through his nose in an effort to hide just how taxing the effort to dominate the captive's mind was. "I don't know how many there are," he said. "But there are definitely more of them. And Ketsu was right, they are the Black Sun."

Finished relaying what he was able to pull out of their captive's mind, Ezra then somewhat gingerly walked over to where the Phantom was parked, and as soon as the door closed, Ezra collapsed onto the ship's floor. He was completely wiped out and couldn't hide it any longer.

Sabine had a pretty good idea why disappeared into their ship, but had to return her focus to the captives. She made short work of them all, taking aim with her blasters and firing upon all three of them, stunning them back into unconsciousness. Then, with them out of the way, she turned back to the Phantom as concern for her teammate took over.

But by the time Sabine opened the door to the Phantom and was able to locate Ezra, he had already managed to stagger back to his feet. Still, she knew better than to think he just needed to get away for a moment. "Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah," Ezra responded in a tone that said he was lying. "I'll be fine. Besides, we should get moving if we want to find Ketsu before the Black Sun does. They've got enough of a head start already."

"Yeah, but I need you at full power here, Ezra." Sabine pointed out. "I won't pretend to know what it was that you did out there, but it obviously left you drained."

"Don't worry about me, Sabine," Ezra fired back, standing ramrod straight to show her that he was good to go. "Now, let's go find your friend."

Sabine wanted to argue that perhaps Ezra should stay behind and conserve his energy but knew that every moment they wasted arguing was another moment lost in finding Ketsu. So, with a roll of her eyes, Sabine turned to the door, and mentally prepared to find her sister.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ketsu ducked down an alleyway to avoid being spotted again. She'd been successfully evading capture for hours already. She was short on ammunition, having not gotten a chance to grab some of her precious friends before she left the Shadow Caster, and her last skirmish left her with a damaged blaster, leaving her with just her fighting skills to keep her free from capture.

Believing that she was safe for the moment, Ketsu removed her helmet, feeling as though she needed to get some fresh air before she continued on the run. Things were getting desperate for her, she knew. If Sabine didn't find her soon, she was sure to be captured or worse.

Ketsu also knew that the Black Sun crew was slowly herding her in. Up to that point, every time she tried to head in a direction they didn't want, she was met with fierce resistance and left with retreat as her only option. "Where are you, sister?" She quietly asked to no one. "I could really use some help here."


	9. Chapter 9: A Rescue Turned Sideways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I hope you will like this latest chapter as we dig into the rescue of Ketsu. I thought about this from the episodes where Ketsu let the Rebels have the droid and then when she was there to help them get the carrier fueled to escape. Since there was never really anything confirming that she had joined the Rebellion, I thought about how a criminal group like the Black Sun, and would they just let someone up and leave without any form of retribution? I think not. So this chapter dives into that.

This was it, she thought as she was gasping for air. Her left arm was hanging limply at her side, and she knew from the amount of pain she was in that her shoulder had to be dislocated at the very least. But she wouldn't be surprised if a scan revealed something was torn.

Ketsu had inadvertently run into a small group of Black Sun members as she once again tried unsuccessfully to break free from where they were corralling her. She figured she now knew what a nerf felt like at it was being herded against its will. And at the rate she was going, she was certain the comparison between the creature and herself would only continue in similarities, right up to the point of being butchered.

Maybe all the rumors were true that no one left the Black Sun on their terms. Ketsu thought she had a chance to be the one to break from that rumored mold, what with her upbringing and training from the Imperial Academy to rely on, but oh how foolish and arrogant she'd been to think like that.

She was already without any weapons along with her injured arm, and to top it off, she was exhausted too. It felt like it'd been days that she'd been on the run even though it was nowhere near that long. Regardless of the actual length of time, she just didn't know how much longer she would last. It was a numbers game and she didn't have them, not by a longshot.

If she could just take a few minutes to catch her breath, or maybe to try resetting her shoulder. Then she might have a bit more of a chance, but she wasn't even getting that. And as if to prove her point, a blaster bolt suddenly shot into the wall just above her head, indicating that it was time to move again.

So, despite the protests from her body, Ketsu got up and ran around a nearby corner in the opposite direction of the blaster fire. Only, this time her escape route was blocked by four more members of the Black Sun. Ketsu was able to strike one of them with her good arm, but that left open her injured arm too, which was latched onto and viciously yanked down, bringing her to her knees.

Taking in every ounce of fight she had left, Ketsu kicked out and managed to slam her foot into the ankle of another one of her would-be captors. Immediately after connecting, she clearly heard a snapping sound followed screaming in pain, letting her know that another one of her enemies was incapacitated. That was only the beginning though, and she almost got back to her feet when someone else hit her in the back of the head using the butt of their blaster rifle. The force behind the blow nearly knocked her unconscious, but the stun bolt that followed it finally finished the job.

"Get this mess cleaned up immediately," one of the Black Sun members barked. "You all have attracted too much attention."

"Like you could've done any better, Jodo." Another Black Sun member fired back as he began to restrain Ketsu with binders.

But the first man in Mandalorian like armor, Jodo, was proven correct when the pop and hiss of a lightsaber sounded just behind them. They all turned around to see a young man standing before them, and worse yet, he wasn't alone.

"A Jedi," Jodo yelled out as he drew his blasters and began to open fire.

* * *

_"_ _Are you sure you read that sleemo's mind correctly?" Sabine huffed as they continued to weave their way through streets and alleyways._

_"_ _Yeah," Ezra answered. "He was trying to keep the location of the crash site from me, and that's why it wore me out a bit."_

_"_ _I thought you had mind tricks down after working with Kanan on it so much," Sabine said as they walked around another corner._

_"_ _Mind tricks only work on the weak-minded," Ezra explained. "On a random bucket head, yeah, it is easy. Besides, what I did there wasn't the same as a random mind trick. That's more like inserting a suggestion into someone's mind. What I did back there was pulling information from his mind."_

_"_ _And that's more difficult?" Sabine asked._

_"_ _Especially if they aren't weak-minded," Ezra answered. "He may have been a thug but he wasn't stupid."_

_"_ _I guess that makes sense," Sabine responded as she pulled up a holo map of the south end of Garel City._

_"_ _How many more streets do we have to cover?" Ezra asked._

_"_ _Well, from the look of the map, we still have around ten blocks or so left." Sabine detailed. "That is unless you can use those Jedi powers to find someone else from the Black Sun, or oh, I don't know, Ketsu maybe."_

_"_ _You know, Sabine, just because you can't see it happening doesn't mean that it's easy to do," Ezra said in frustration. "I wish it was that simple. That I could just focus on Ketsu or any random person, but I can't."_

_"_ _I know," Sabine said in an apologetic tone. "I just want to find her before it's too late. I have a pretty good idea what will happen if they get to her before we do."_

_"_ _Really?" Ezra asked._

_"_ _I was a bounty hunter before I joined Hera and Kanan," Sabine pointed out. "Ketsu and I both thought that we wanted to join the Black Sun, collect bounties, and maybe earn enough credits to retire one day at an early age. I didn't realize back then how selfish we were until after Hera and Kanan took me in. They showed me something better than I'd been a part of in a really long time."_

_"_ _You know, I think that's the most you've ever told me about yourself, Sabine." Ezra pointed out while hiding a chuckle. "And from what you said, I'm starting to think that maybe you and I weren't all that different before we met Kanan and Hera."_

_"_ _You were a loth rat when we first met, Ezra," Sabine said, disagreeing with his opinion. "I was trained to be a warrior from the moment I could walk, and then was placed into the Imperial Academy. I wasn't just on the streets stealing to survive."_

_"_ _That's not what I meant," Ezra fired back while trying to quell the anger and a little bit of hurt he was feeling from her words. "All I was saying is that we were both only thinking of ourselves before we joined the Ghost crew."_

_"_ _Oh," was the only response Sabine could manage to utter. She knew that she had just upset Ezra, and when she went back over what she had actually said to him, she couldn't blame him._

_Up to that point, things seemed to finally be back to normal between them, and this time she was the one who stuck their foot in their mouths. She literally wanted to kick herself in the ass for it. It had been so long since the two of them had gotten along, and she had just ruined it. Plus, if that wasn't bad enough, Ezra was absolutely right too. They both had been only thinking of themselves before they met Kanan and Hera._

_She had to make this right. "Ezra," she said before pausing to consider the best words, but Ezra didn't allow her to say more as he shushed her._

_"_ _Did you hear that?" He asked as they stopped at a crossroad._

_"_ _Hear what?" She asked when he didn't continue._

_"_ _I thought I just heard blaster fire." He said, grabbing her attention completely._

_"_ _Which way?" She asked, but he didn't have to answer as the sound of another shot being fired rang through the streets, providing them both with the direction to head._

_Sabine took the lead, slinking around building corners as quickly as she could without making too much noise. She led him down one final street and when she peered into an alley, she saw Ketsu on the ground being restrained._

_She turned back to Ezra and gestured with her hands, letting him know that she counted a total of eight enemies. Ezra nodded in confirmation as he pulled his lightsaber hilt from his waist and then gave a hand gesture to indicate that he planned to get everyone's attention with it. That would then allow Sabine to open fire before anyone knew what hit them, and hope they would all scramble without trying to drag away their prize._

_Ezra seemed to become a beacon of confidence as he stood tall and walked around the building corner, his trusty weapon of choice firmly held in his hands. And when he ignited the blade, Sabine was ready to go to war._

* * *

Jodo ducked behind a trash crate to evade the rapid firing of dual Mandalorian blasters. Once he had adequate cover, he took a quick look around and found that two of his Black Sun brothers were down, having not been quick enough to escape the blaster bolts. They were at a disadvantage, but Jodo didn't want to retreat just yet and blindly fired in the direction of the intruders, but with each shot he fired, it was immediately followed by the sound of a lightsaber waving through the air and blocking it. And that sound was then quickly followed by the thud of a blaster bolt making an impact, either into a wall or another body.

By his count, in less than a minute they had already lost four more men, and the sounds of continued blaster fire mixed with the lightsaber singing as it swished through the air confirmed that whoever these individuals were, they were still in the fight.

Just a few short moments later, another of his brothers had his blaster shot out of his hands, causing the coward to cut bait and run away. Jodo wanted to go after the coward and teach him a lesson personally, but that would be at the expense of failing to acquire their traitorous deserter.

He couldn't let the mission become a complete failure. So, as a last resort before fleeing himself, Jodo took aim one final time and squeezed the trigger. His shot was true, and it would surely provide him the time to escape and fight another day.

"Ketsu!" Sabine yelled in a panic as she watched helplessly as a shot went straight for Ketsu. There was no question that a coward Black Sun member had just shot her sister, and that meant she and Ezra were too late, causing Sabine to see only red.

She charged forward, no longer concerned about any returning fire from what remained of the Black Sun. As she advanced toward Ketsu, her enemies came into view, and she went right to work. It almost seemed like it was effortless for her, firing off round after round, all with deadly accuracy.

Ezra watched in awe as Sabine singlehandedly took out three more men. Her attack was almost flawless, except for when one of the men managed to shoot her in the shoulder before they too were dispatched. Even with that, it was still one of the most impressive things he'd ever witnessed. Especially how being hit didn't even seem to faze her, and that only caused Ezra's opinion of how badass she was to grow even more.

If not for the blaster bolt charring her uniform, no one would ever have guessed that she was hurt as she continued to run straight over to Ketsu, sliding to her knees as soon as she reached her sister. She gently rolled Ketsu over as Ezra made it to them and began standing guard, watching their backs in case any more Black Sun members showed up.

"She's breathing," Sabine announced as she continued evaluating the extent of Ketsu's injuries.

"Can we get her back to the Phantom?" Ezra asked. "Because I doubt her old friends are going to let us stay here for long."

Sabine didn't immediately respond but knew that Ezra was right. They couldn't stay there without the Black Sun returning in greater force. She just wasn't sure if Ketsu could make the trek back to their ship without medical treatment, and then have to wait until they returned to Chopper Base. Regardless of how soon she needed it, the fact remained that Ketsu needed medical attention, and sooner rather than later if at all possible. The trick was, who on Garel could they trust?

They had to make a decision, so she made one. "We need to find someone who can treat her wounds as soon as possible."

"Then let's try to find a nearby medical facility," Ezra said.

"I don't know how can we trust where ever we do stop, but we can't stay here," Sabine said as she began to move Ketsu into a better position to be carried.

"I don't think we have much choice in the matter," Ezra said. "We'll just have to stay focused until they've treated her, and deal with whatever comes."

"Ok," Sabine said, and they got to each side of Ketsu, and hoisted her up as gently as they could.

It was slow going at first, not wanting to cause any more injury to Ketsu if they could help it. Along the way, Sabine pulled up a holo map and found the closest medical facility. She still wasn't keen on going to the first place they could get to, but without being certain of how badly hurt Ketsu was, she didn't want to risk going any farther.

As they reached the entrance of the medical building, they hadn't yet been approached by any aggressor, but that didn't make them feel at ease. Instead, once the medical personnel inside took Ketsu into the back area, Sabine refused to let Ketsu out of her sight. The medical staff tried to guarantee Sabine that her friend would be safe but eventually decided it was a lost cause when they saw the Mandalorian reaching for her blasters.

Ezra, meanwhile, chose to remain out in the waiting area toward the front of the building. He found a spot close to the entrance and in a position where he would easily be able to see and if needed, get to anyone he didn't think was there for medical reasons. Once seated, he closed his eyes and began to meditate, focusing on his surroundings, searching out for anything that might feel a bit off to hopefully give him a little more of an advantage in reacting to any potential aggression.

After around an hour of being in the medical facility, Sabine was still tapping her foot impatiently as a medical droid continued treating Ketsu's injuries. The amount of time they'd been stuck in there was frustrating her to no end. She'd been tense the entire time, with the only reprieve being when Ketsu did regain consciousness, but it was then that she also discovered that Ketsu had been stunned before that chakaar before they tried to kill her.

That knowledge brought Sabine's blood to a boil, and she had to fight the urge to find that gutter trash and dispatch him for his cowardice. But there would be time for that later. For the time being, her only concern had to be getting Ketsu off Garel safely.

* * *

When the medical droid had finished tending to Ketsu's injuries, Sabine finally left her side to retrieve Ezra from the waiting area. They hadn't even made it back into her room before Ketsu was already standing impatiently. "Where's the Shadow Caster?" She asked the two Rebels.

Sabine glanced at Ezra for a moment, slightly surprised as to her sister's first question. "We um, we actually don't know." She eventually answered.

"We couldn't tell how badly you were injured," Ezra added. "Sabine saw one of them shoot you before they left, and we decided it was best to get your injuries treated."

"Well, I've been treated," Ketsu said. "So, let's go get my ship."

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Ezra responded. "We've been fortunate to this point that none of your Black Sun buddies have found us yet."

"Well I'll be damned if I'm going to let one of those pieces of bantha fodder have my ship without a fight," Ketsu said.

"Look, Ketsu," Sabine said, trying to calm her down. "Under normal circumstances, I'd be right alongside you…"

"Well, I'm calling in the favor you owe me." Ketsu fired back. "Don't think that I've forgotten about it."'

"You owe her?" Ezra questioned.

"Umm, yeah," Sabine said in resignation. "You remember the time with the droid on Garel where she saved me from the shuttle. That one made us even for Ketsu leaving me for dead before I joined the Ghost crew."

"And then there was my helping you and the Ghost crew when you were refueling the carrier so you all could escape to where now is your home base."

"We can't take them on in our current condition," Sabine replied. "You didn't have any by the time we got to you, and you're definitely not at one hundred percent even if you've been treated. I was in here the whole time, so I know how bad a condition you were in. Before we even consider going after the Black Sun to get your ship back, we need to come up with a plan first that will even give us a chance of succeeding without losing our heads in the process."

"Plus, we don't even know where they took your ship to," Ezra added.

"I know where they would've taken it," Ketsu said. "I was one of them after all."

As much as she wanted to just go on the offensive, Ketsu couldn't argue that at the very least, they made a valid point. Going in blind with no plan wouldn't end well for them. So, she spent the remaining time she was held in the medical station detailing to Sabine and Ezra of all the Black Sun held territories on Garel, as well as the most likely location they would've taken her ship to and the type of resistance they should expect.

They also went over the weapons they had on their persons and concluded that any attack would require them to get their hands on some more weapons first. So, reluctantly, Ketsu agreed to head back to the Phantom, where Sabine had some more miracles available.

Before they left though, the first thing they did was find some different clothing that Ketsu could wear over her armor to better hide her from any Black Sun criminals they might come across along the way. And to complete this task, Ezra went out into town on his own, headed for a marketplace, and found a suitable cloak that would do the job.

With the cloak sufficiently covering Ketsu, the three of them then made their way back through Garel City. They remained cautious, vigilant as they trekked their way back to the Phantom while also trying not to look conspicuous and keeping their eyes on their surroundings simultaneously.

By the time they reached the hangar, Ezra and Sabine both had found the same number of threats as they had initially when they were looking for Ketsu, but that didn't ease their apprehension at all. They knew the numbers were against them, and unlike before, they no longer had the element of surprise.

Fortunately, they arrived at the entry to the spaceport facing no opposition, and finally began to feel relief that they were in the clear as Sabine input the codes to open the spaceport door. But just as they began to let their guard down, they opened the door to the Phantom and instantly knew that they were in trouble.

"Where are the men we restrained?" Sabine asked as she drew out her blasters.

"Over here," one of those men answered for her as they stepped out with blasters drawn. "You're not going anywhere."

Ezra made to pull his lightsaber from his belt, but a stun blast struck him from behind, putting him down instantly. Sabine and Ketsu turned in time to see Ezra crumpling to the ground as the person who fired on him stepped out from behind his cover. "Jodo," Ketsu growled. "Still shooting people in the back I see."

"I do what's needed to get the job done," Jodo replied casually. "We knew there was a chance you got a distress call out before you crashed, and your two friends made the mistake of not finishing off the men they captured when they had the chance. With just an astromech droid guarding them, it wasn't difficult for my men to take down the droid and comm me. So instead of needlessly hunting for you, we decided to sit back and wait for you to come to us."

"We won't come quietly," Ketsu growled, ready for a fight to the death if that was what'd be required. She knew that if they went willingly, death would be the best thing they could hope for.

"If you won't come quietly," Jodo answered with supreme confidence evident in his voice and then jammed his blaster onto the back of Ezra's neck. "Then this one dies first."

Ketsu opened her mouth to give Ezra the best chance he had at a quick, painless death, but Sabine dropped her blasters and answered first. "We'll come quietly."

Ketsu shot her eyes over to Sabine in surprise. "What are you doing?" She asked in a quiet voice just above a whisper. "If they take him with us, they'll torture him until after he begs for death."

"I'm not going to do something that would end up with Ezra being killed because of my actions," Sabine responded as their adversaries approached and put them both in binders.

Ketsu wanted to argue and fight, but she heard something she hadn't expected to in the tone of Sabine's voice. Desperation. It was obvious that there was something more to this boy than when Sabine had referred to him as nothing more than an annoying little brother back when Ketsu first met him.

With them properly subdued, some of the captors then unceremoniously loaded them into the Phantom while others dragged Ezra's limp body in, tossing him haphazardly next to the two Mandalorian women. No sooner had he landed than did Sabine scoot a little closer to Ezra, seemingly checking on how he was doing as best as she could, considering her hands were tied behind her back.

Ketsu meanwhile, knowing that Sabine's focus was elsewhere, turned her attention more to their current predicament. By her count, there were about a dozen men around them, with Jodo Cast leading the way, but soon enough, only four of them remained onboard the shuttle as Jodo climbed into the pilot's seat and took off. That left just three men guarding them to deal with.

Unfortunately though, the flight wasn't long enough for any plan of attack to form before Jodo brought the Phantom down inside the building that Ketsu believed and then confirmed her ship had been taken to.

Then they were greeted by even more members of the Black Sun when the ramped was opened up, causing Ketsu to smirk as Jodo stood from his seat. "Think you brought enough men?" She taunted.

"We're not taking any chances," Jodo answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Now, let's get moving before your company arrives."

Ketsu defiantly hesitated, but a blaster pushing her in the back forced her to exit. Sabine didn't put up any resistance at all and instead stayed as close as she could to the men dragging Ezra out. Ketsu watched this with interest as they were placed into a makeshift brig. And once again, as soon as they were all inside the holding cell, Sabine scooted up closer to Ezra's limp form.

"Alright, you need to spill Sabine," Ketsu said as she leaned against a wall before sliding into a seated position.

"What are you talking about?" Sabine asked.

"What's the deal with you and the Jedi there?" Ketsu bluntly asked.

"There's nothing to tell," Sabine immediately answered as she glanced down to her best friend.

"Oh yes there is," Ketsu fired back, not buying what Sabine was saying for a second. "The last time we were together, you told me that Ezra was just some annoying kid Hera and Kanan picked up. You also said that he gave you a pretty good idea what having a little brother around all the time would feel like. But now, here you are surrendering instantly and then watching over him like he's something precious to you. The Sabine I know would've gone down swinging."

Sabine wanted to fire right back that Ketsu didn't know what she was talking about, but that would only serve as confirmation that something was going on between herself and Ezra. Ketsu knew her better than most even after their years apart, and while there was a lot that had changed about Sabine, the majority of that change was around why she fought now versus the type of person she was.

Sabine still felt like she was the same person that Ketsu had known for years for the most part, and that person didn't have any romantic entanglements worth telling about. Passion for art and completing mission objectives still reigned supreme. The only real difference now was that the payment for completion of a task wasn't as selfish as it had been during her bounty hunting days with Ketsu.

And thinking about this instance like a mission caused her to formulate a response that she hoped might quell Ketsu's thought process. "I guess it's been a little different since Ezra almost lost his life because of me not too long ago." She said. "During a mission I was in charge of, Ezra fell out of the ship as I was trying to get all of us out of harm's way. Then I made the decision to leave him behind, and having that feeling of someone dying because of my decision isn't something I want to experience again if I can help it."

Ketsu listened intently as Sabine provided her justification for being so protective, but when she was finished, her words only caused the smile on Ketsu's face to grow. "I don't know who you're trying to convince more, me or you. It's obvious that he's grown on you and now you actually like the boy, so why not just admit it and be done with it?"

"I do like him," Sabine admitted, but quickly continued. "He's become a really good friend and someone I can count on."

"Uh-huh," Ketsu responded in a manner that said she still wasn't buying it. However, if she did have a rebuttal, it was interrupted when some Black Sun members entered the holding area and opened the cell door. When they entered the holding cell, they yanked all three prisoners up off the ground and dragged them out into another area of the facility.

They were escorted into a larger room where there was a contingent of characters on a slightly elevated level, with one in particular in the middle, but in hologram form. He was the one to speak first. "Ah Jodo," the man called out, instantly silencing any form of murmurs in the room. "So, it is true. You have brought the deserter back to us."

"Yes, Prince Xizor," Jodo answered with a bow.

"Excellent work," Xizor said before his holo image turned toward the captives. "And who might these two unexpected guests be?"

"They tried to assist the traitor in escaping sir," Jodo responded.

"The boy is a Jedi," Added one of the men Sabine and Ezra had previously captured.

"And the other appears to be Mandalorian," Xizor said. "Their armor is not so unlike your own, eh Jodo? Remove the Mandalorian's helmet so I can see who both our guests are."

Three men stepped forward, each one eager to do Xizor's bidding. Sabine struggled against the first two who reached her, but with her hands still bound behind her back, there was only so much she could do before the two men forced her to her knees while the third ripped her helmet off.

No sooner had her face been revealed to everyone around, than did Xizor smile in triumph. "For your traitorous departure Ketsu, you shall be executed. But you also owe the Black Sun for the bounties you've let slip through your fingers."

"Like hell," Ketsu growled. "I know for a fact that there have been other Black Sun members who've come up emptyhanded more times than I have."

"True, but they remained loyal to the Black Sun," Xizor replied before he rubbed his chin as if contemplating something. "And luckily for you, I know that these two are Rebels, and thusly wanted by the Empire. However, if you give up the location of their Rebel base, then I will consider your past sins absolved, and make their deaths quick and painless."

"Go to hell!" Ketsu shouted. "We won't tell you anything."

Her response only caused Xizor to smile. "Jodo," Xizor said. "You know what to do. I'll leave you to it. Comm once you've made them talk."

And with that, the holo image faded away. Following his orders, Jodo stepped closer to the still unconscious Ezra as he again pulled out his blaster, placing the barrel directly onto the base of Ezra's skull. Then he looked to Sabine. "Such a pretty face." He said before gesturing to a few of the men.

The remaining Black Sun members approached Sabine, who was still being held forcibly on her knees. One of the bulkier of the men stood in front of her, cracking his knuckles, and stopped just in front of her. "Don't tell them anything, Ketsu." She quickly said as she mentally prepared herself for what was about to come, and come it did.

The first blow was a sharp kick to her midsection. Sabine tried to refrain from making any noises, but the kick to her gut was so hard that she couldn't completely stop herself from coughing and trying to suck in some air. She wanted to fight back, but the two men who'd been holding her down were still holding her in place.

The next three shots were all to her face, with each one snapping her head violently in one direction or the other. Two more blows landed to the midsection, and then the two holding her in place finally decided to let her go. However, any reprieve she hoped for from that was squashed away as the other men circled around her, taking turns kicking or punching her, and never allowed Sabine to get back to her feet.

They never even paused to ask Ketsu if she was ready to give up the location of the Rebel base. Instead, they just continued to pound away on Sabine. If her hands hadn't been bound behind her back, then she at least might've been able to try defending herself, but these cowards weren't taking any chances, and just continued to pummel Sabine while Ketsu watched helplessly.

As Sabine's torture continued, she began to struggle with remaining conscious. Her vision was blurred from all the strikes to her face, and she was struggling to even roll over when they kicked her in her sides. It was continuous and unrelenting and felt like it lasted for hours. Sabine was sore all over, certain that she had a few cracked ribs at the least. It quickly got to the point where it hurt to breathe, it hurt to move. She couldn't be certain, but it also felt like one of her arms had been broken as well.

They eventually did pause, but she didn't expect it to last long as one of the men reached down, grabbed a fistful of Sabine's colorful hair, and yanked her head up so that Ketsu had a clear view of her friend's face. "What do you think, Ketsu?" Jodo gloated. "Do you think your friend has had enough?"

Ketsu looked down at Sabine's battered face and tried to hide her emotions, but she couldn't keep the tears from shining in her eyes. "You've made your point," she croaked. "Just get it over with."

"The Rebel base location," Jodo replied as he took his blaster from Ezra's head and pointed over to Sabine's. "And I'll allow you to say goodbye to your friend."

But Ketsu kept her mouth shut. So, Jodo went to pull the trigger but found that he couldn't move it, leaving him surprised. His weapons had never misfired before. He tried to squeeze the trigger again but was met with the same result. "You," he said while pointing at one of his men. "Toss me your blaster.

The weapon was tossed to him, but right before it reached his outstretched hand, it stopped in midair. That caused him to look back over to the captured Jedi, whose eyes were now glaring daggers directly back at him. He opened his mouth to yell out to the men closest to the Jedi, but then all of the holstered and even unholstered blasters suddenly went sailing through the air, and more importantly, away from the Black Sun men.

What happened after that was more of a blur as Ezra shot up into a standing position and caught his lightsaber in one motion as he'd summoned it to him at the same time as he disarmed everyone else. The green blade came into view, and he attacked without mercy. It only took Ezra a few short moments to slice his way through everyone, save for one man. Jodo.

With everyone else seemingly dispatched, Ezra stalked toward Jodo as the criminal stumbled and fell onto his rear as he tried to crawl away. But when it became clear that he was attempting to get over to the pile of blasters, Ezra quickened his pace and stopped Jodo in his tracks by putting his lightsaber blade just under Jodo's chin.

While all this transpired, Ketsu had gone straight over to Sabine. She checked Sabine's injuries as best as she could considering all the distractions around her with the screaming and slicing that Ezra was doing to the Black Sun. She didn't look away from Sabine until she heard Jodo beginning to blubber and plead for his life.

"Why should I let you live?" Ezra growled as he hoisted Jodo up into the air with the Force. "You were going to kill my best friend. I should kill you just for that."

"Please," Jodo begged. "I'll do anything."

"Ezra, don't," came the quiet plea from Sabine.

Ezra stopped as soon as he heard her voice and glanced over to his friend. He was elated at first, but upon seeing what those men had done to her infuriated him. He growled, grinding his teeth as his focus returned to the man still being held up in the air by the Force. "She just saved your life," He said. "You'll live, but only to tell your boss that if they come after any of my friends again, they'll have to deal with me. And next time, I won't stop."

With that said, Ezra used the Force to throw Jodo violently into a wall, knocking him unconscious and crumbling to the floor. Ezra then used the Force to unlock the binders on both Sabine and Ketsu before going to the other side of Sabine and help her toward the Shadow Caster. Just before they boarded Ketsu's ship, Ezra went over to Chopper and powered him back online. He then told the astromech to fly the Phantom back to base and to let the Rebels know that Sabine would need some medical assistance when they arrived.

Ketsu piloted the Shadow Caster up after the Phantom and followed it into the upper atmosphere where they could jump into hyperspace. At that point, Ezra virtually refused to leave Sabine's side and received a sideways glance from Ketsu. He held Sabine's hand once they were finally alone, and when he did, Sabine managed to crack open her eyes. "I suppose, this makes us even," she quietly said.

Ezra grinned at his friend's attempt at humor as he also reflected on their escape. He'd been strong and she'd seen it. And that made him realize that the Holocron had been right all along. Sabine was interested in strength, not weakness, and this was a great first step to repairing the divide that up until now, had been steadily growing between them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That dang Holocron just won't go away, will it. Up next, we'll see Ketsu getting a better view of what this thing is between Sabine and Ezra as she also acclimates to her new future as a Rebel while both Wini and Gavyn come back into the picture a bit more. Stay tuned, and keep the reviews coming! I love hearing your thoughts and opinions.


	10. Chapter 10: Predicaments Galore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ezra and Sabine are assigned to a mission that will test their personal limits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks go out to a few reviewers, who put this idea into my head with their suggestions. Your ideas fit into the story very well without taking it off the rails, and I truly appreciate it, so thank you to Chucky and Undercover Brother for your thoughts/suggestions, and I hope you like what I did with it as it kicks in with this latest chapter.

"Ready to get out of here?" Gavyn asked as he came back into Sabine's room of the medical wing.

"Yeah," She confirmed. "I just got word that they're finally letting me go."

"I could tell you were anxious to leave yesterday," Gavyn replied as he took the seat closest to Sabine while she continued preparing to leave, strapping on her belt and holstering her blasters.

"I was anxious two days ago," Sabine corrected him. "Yesterday was just pure torture."

"You can't blame them for taking all the precautions and ensuring that everything was healing up properly before they let you back out into the field again," Gavyn said.

"No," Sabine reluctantly agreed with a sigh. "It was just so boring here, and especially after the first day when I started to hardly have any visitors."

"Hey!" Gavyn said with a teasing smirk as he blatantly faked taking offense to Sabine's statement. "I came to see you every day, and as often as I could each day too. You're lucky I like you, oh mighty Mandalorian."

"Sorry," Sabine said even though she knew he was only teasing. "I know you've been here. I was just surprised that aside from you and Hera, no one else really stopped by after checking in one time."

But what she'd said wasn't entirely true and Sabine knew it. Zeb had also stopped by on a couple of occasions and so had Ketsu. Even Kanan came by once to see how she was doing. If she was honest with herself, there was one specific person who had been absent ever since the first day back to Chopper Base, and that one person was supposed to have been her best friend.

When Ezra was injured, Sabine stayed by his side nearly the entire time as he recovered. In fact, on more than one occasion she had to be forced to leave his room, whereas he'd been noticeably absent from her room over the last two days entirely. She didn't want to admit it but his absence did hurt inside.

And Ketsu's presence wasn't exactly helping with the hurt she was feeling inside, as Ketsu seemed to know what was actually bothering Sabine, and she took every opportunity to pick at that sore spot too. Especially when she and Sabine were alone. She teased Sabine about her prospective options with either Ezra or Gavyn and even hinted once about how fun it might be to play with the both of them at the same time.

However, that was something Sabine never wanted to do at all. One person was the most she would ever be willing to become physically romantic with, and even then just one person was a stretch for her. She'd never really wanted to be with anyone before, let alone two at the same time.

She especially didn't want to be with those two regardless of what Ketsu thought. She had forged friendships with both Gavyn and Ezra that Sabine didn't want to risk ruining on the chance that something more might work out. If things were as Ketsu suggested, surely one of them would have a difficult time wanting to be just friends, and Ketsu didn't seem to understand or accept that. To her, they were delicious pieces of man meat to be enjoyed, savored even.

* * *

_"_ _I thought he'd never leave," Ketsu said immediately after the door slid shut behind Gavyn's retreating form. "It's difficult to gossip about your growing infatuation with Ezra when another potential suitor won't give us any privacy."_

_"_ _Suitor?" Sabine asked in disbelief._

_Ketsu bent over in a full-on belly laugh at Sabine's response. She laughed so hard that it was almost too much for her to take. "Oh, come on little sister," she said while wiping tears from her eyes. "Even you have to see that Gavyn has it for you. All you'd have to do is say the word and he'd probably worship the ground you walk on for the rest of his days."_

_"_ _Gavyn's just a friend, Ketsu," Sabine argued. "He's never even tried anything or said anything that would make me think he wants anything more than friendship."_

_Ketsu's continued chuckling ceased instantly upon hearing Sabine's argument. She'd always doubted anyone's interest in her, but it was never their interest that Sabine was focusing on. Instead, before she would deny having any interest in any type of romance, even just of the carnal variety. And in Ketsu's opinion, she didn't know what she was missing._

_But there was also another unspoken factor this time around. For Ketsu knew that a certain young Jedi had grown on Sabine even though she vehemently denied that too. "So, he's interested in you, but you don't return those feelings," Ketsu surmised and then smirked as she continued. "Or, maybe it's that someone else has weaseled their way into your heart."_

_"_ _Now you're really starting to reach for something that isn't there," Sabine said. "There's nothing between Ezra and I either. Both Ezra and Gavyn are just my friends. There's nothing else going on despite what you think."_

_"_ _You can deny it all you want, Sabine," Ketsu said, turning serious for a moment instead of teasing. "But if you truly think that you don't have at least a physical attraction to either one of them, you should at least make it clear to the both of them that there will never be anything more."_

_"_ _Seriously Ketsu," Sabine said in disbelief. "I've spent years letting Ezra know in every way possible that I don't feel that way about him, and I was starting to believe that he was finally accepting it. He stopped hitting on me a long time ago, AND he didn't even look at me when I was practically undressed in front of him just a few weeks ago."_

_Ketsu openly laughed yet again, as she heard the bit of hurt in Sabine's voice. There was still the defiance, but when she went into details describing how Ezra had finally "accepted there was nothing between them" and the "he didn't even look" at her, in particular, made it stand out. Clearly, Sabine was too close to the situation to see it for herself. Ketsu wasn't even there and she could see it._

_She would bet anything that Ezra averted his gaze intentionally to stay on Sabine's good side. From what Sabine had told her before, Ketsu knew that Ezra spent a good portion of their earlier days bumbling his way around trying to get Sabine's attention, only to be rebuffed at every turn. And considering who the other party was, it was likely that Ezra would've had to work extremely hard to get back into Sabine's good graces. So, she could only imagine how Sabine would respond if she caught Ezra ogling her, and assumed Ezra would think the same way._

_It was also obvious who Sabine was interested in, even if she refused to admit it to herself, but that still left the third wheel to deal with. Gavyn had been coming around too often and adding the looks he gave Sabine when he thought no one was looking told Ketsu all she needed to know._

_"_ _Well," She eventually said. "You're going to have to tell Gavyn…"_

_"_ _Tell me what?" Gavyn asked as the door slid open and he walked back inside._

_Ketsu snapped her mouth shut, not going to divulge anything more. If Sabine wanted to get him to back off, then she was going to have to be the one to break it to him. "I should probably get going, " she said as she got to her feet. "Don't want to shirk on my duties after just a few days with the Rebellion and all. I'll see you later Sabine."_

_Gavyn took the seat that Ketsu vacated, and when the door slid shut behind Ketsu, he turned his attention back to Sabine. "So, is there something I should know that you two were just talking about?"_

_"_ _No," Sabine responded. "Just Ketsu giving her opinion of things without all the facts is all. She just likes to push my buttons sometimes, like a typical sibling would."_

* * *

After finally being released from the medical wing, Sabine eventually found herself back in the comfort of her own room aboard the Ghost. Initially, she thought about locking the door and getting in some serious painting time, but as odd as it seemed under normal circumstances, she found that she didn't want to be alone at that moment.

So, she strolled into the main area where Zeb, Hera, and Chop all were, seemingly just relaxing as a group for the moment. Sabine couldn't help but notice that they were two Jedi short of a full crew.

"Back to active status?" Zeb asked as Sabine joined them at the table.

"Yeah," She confirmed. "And I can't wait to get back to work. It was miserable in there all that time."

"Ezra was basically saying the same thing while he was being held in the med bay before." Hera pointed out.

"Speaking of Ezra," Sabine said. "Where is he? I haven't seen him in a couple of days."

Hera's eyes widened a bit upon hearing that Ezra hadn't been visiting Sabine, and she would've answered but Zeb was quicker with his reply. "He was on one mission the other day, and other than that, he's been keeping busy with his Jedi training off base."

"He hasn't been here much either," Hera added. "The last two days, he's been gone before daylight and hasn't returned until dusk. I honestly thought he would be checking on you with all the time he's been from the Ghost."

"He should be at the next briefing though," Zeb said. "The kid may not have been around here much, but he hasn't missed any meetings."

"What's the briefing supposed to be about?" Sabine asked, having been out of the loop during her recovery.

"There was a reconnaissance team investigating one of our Rebel cells after they suddenly stopped sending reports on their activities," Hera answered. "I was informed that there were no survivors, but we did receive a garbled distress call from that recovery team that was being cleaned up."

Hera stood from her seat and took her caf cup to the sink. "And speaking of the briefing, we should probably get going."

Zeb and Sabine followed after the Twi'lek pilot and headed over to the central command. When they arrived, both Commander Sato and Senator Amidala were present via holo image, while the rest of the higher-ups were there in person.

Just off to the side, Ezra was talking to Wini, who was right by his side, causing Sabine to involuntarily grimace before she managed to tamp it down. What she didn't realize though was that Hera was looking her way when it happened, seeing Sabine's expression and then looking in the other direction to verify the cause behind it.

If they had been outside of command, she might've said something, but for the time being, it was going to have to wait. Hera did, however, make a mental note to get to figure out what was going on between two of her crew members soon.

When the briefing began, Ezra didn't end up joining the rest of the Ghost as Commander Sato addressed the crowd. "We have finished reviewing the communication from the recon team, and determined that there is a weapon of unknown design." He said. "What we do not know at this point is whether the weapon is still being tested, or if it is already in production."

"We also know that this weapon has incredibly high destructive power when used against anything organic." The Senator added.

"Therefore, we will be sending a very small crew to infiltrate the Military Research and Development Division on the planet of Arkania," Sato stated. "The objective will of this mission will be to retrieve information on this weapon and get out without being detected."

"We have to know what we're up against with such a weapon," Organa added. "This Rebellion has just begun to start growing, but if this weapon is planned for mass production, just based off of what we already know, it could very well derail any chance we have of organizing a strong enough Rebellion to stand a chance against the Empire."

"Just how bad is this weapon we're being asked to investigate?" Gavyn asked from the far end of the room.

"The same capability on an organic lifeform as the banned T-7 ion disrupter is our best estimate," Sato answered. "The holo recording revealed the final member of the recon team disintegrating into nothing just before the transmission ended."

"When do I leave?" Ezra asked, readily volunteering for the mission.

"We do believe that your Jedi abilities would be beneficial to such a mission," Sato said. "But you will not be the mission lead for this. Instead, Ezra Bridger, you will serve as the backup for gathering intelligence, with Sabine Wren taking the lead."

"But his weapons knowledge isn't up to par for what this mission calls for," Gavyn responded as he stepped forward. "You should have two individuals who are best suited to determining what these weapons can do."

"Maybe not," Hera said. "But Ezra and Sabine have worked extremely well together on many occasions, and we want a team that has a proven successful track record to take this on."

"I have to agree with Captain Hera," Sato said. "But your knowledge of blasters would also be an asset."

"Gavyn could stand by with the extraction team and report back on Sabine and Ezra's findings," Hera suggested.

"I agree," Sato replied. "We have attained security codes as well as uniforms, and commandeered an Imperial shuttle that you will pilot to Arkania. Once Ezra and Sabine are on the planet, the extraction team will move in to establish a safe rendezvous point should a quick exit become necessary."

"You all will have your assignment details by nightfall," Senator Organa said. "I wish you all the best of luck on this mission."

After having said his piece, Bail Organa's holo-image faded away and was soon followed by Jun Sato's, leaving Hera to finish up. "You'll be leaving in two days." She said. "That should be more than enough time to gather any materials that you may need and to be well-rested before you head out."

* * *

Later that day, Sabine wiped her brow as she had finally finished loading the last crate filled with explosives and weapons for the mission. She'd been pretty much on her own since the meeting ended earlier that day as she added what she felt was necessary for the mission. Normally, Ezra would've tagged along under the guise of helping her, but just like in the med bay, he was a no show. The only person she did get to speak with was Ketsu, who was once again irritatingly able to determine who had Sabine frustrated about the upcoming mission.

According to Sabine, however, Ketsu was flat wrong about the actual reason for her sour mood. But no matter what Sabine tried to say, Ketsu wouldn't believe that romantic, or at least carnal feelings weren't behind it all. She didn't care what Ketsu said, Sabine believed it was about Ezra simply not giving her the same courtesy as she had when he was injured. It had nothing to do with attraction.

At least for the time being, Ketsu did stop pushing about Gavyn. But the damage had already been done there when he walked in on their conversation earlier. Sabine wasn't looking forward to how she was going to have to fix it, and could only hope that Gavyn was only interested in friendship with her or things would surely get awkward.

Sabine paused as she exited the shuttle for a moment to take in the sun as it began to set over the horizon. While this planet did tend to be rather uncomfortable due to the conditions, there were certain redeeming qualities as well. She tried to capture a mental picture, thinking of a way to incorporate it into her next work of art when she suddenly heard what sounded like a group of people laughing together.

Sabine walked around a large stack of crates to see who were enjoying themselves and found a group of young Rebels all seated around a heat source meant to stave off the cool evening air. At first glance, it was an even mix, spotting a couple of Rebel pilots along with Lissa, Cerra, Orar, and Valsi. Ezra was there too along with Wini at his side, sitting a little too close in Sabine's opinion.

What caught her off guard though was Ketsu and Gavyn seated on the opposite side of Ezra and Wini. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, and Sabine found that she wanted to slip away unnoticed, but Cleat spotted her and waved over to her, drawing the attention of everyone else in the group. "Hey, Sabine!" Gavyn said, excitement growing at seeing her there and standing up to make his way over to her. "Since it's our last night here for a while, we all thought it would be fun to have a little get together. We saved a seat for you."

"Yeah, come on over and take a load off, little sister." Ketsu teased. "We were just going over the specifics around your upcoming mission."

Sabine rolled her eyes upon hearing that statement, as the look on Ketsu's face told her that she knew something more about the mission than Sabine and it was likely something she wasn't going to enjoy. She knew better than to avoid knowing what that was, as that would only get more of a response from Ketsu. Besides, the sooner she knew all of the mission details meant that she would have that much more time to prepare herself. So, the band-aid approach was the choice she made, joining the group after all.

Gavyn of course, generously gave her his seat next to Ketsu, but in doing so, he only ended up moving to the seat right next to Sabine. With everyone seated, the small talk quickly went back to normal, but then Sabine noticed when one of the pilots pulled out a good-sized bottle before taking a swig and passing it on to the closest Rebel next to them.

It didn't take rocket science to figure out what the bottle contained, and the only question Sabine had was which kind it was. The pilots each took their turns with the bottle first, but before too long the flask made its way over to Wini. She somewhat hesitantly looked at the container in her hands before finally tipping it up and taking a hearty pull. She managed to swallow it down just fine, but then almost immediately coughed as the heat from the liquor finally got the better of her.

Everyone chuckled at her reaction and Sabine couldn't help but enjoy it as well, although her reasoning had a tad more to it than just Wini's reaction. However, that enjoyment quickly faded when Ezra took the flask away and displayed concern for Wini's wellbeing.

She did manage to compose herself in a few short moments though, and Ezra attempted to pass off the flask, but everyone began laying into him with peer pressure. Sabine knew that Ezra hadn't ever tasted an alcoholic beverage before, let alone drank enough to count as an acceptable amount for this group, and wondered for a moment if he would defy them and decline.

But even Wini joined in on the teasing while also being a bit more handsy than Sabine liked as she attempted to coerce Ezra into taking his turn. Sabine was about to stand up for the young Jedi, but before she had the chance, he caved and put the flask up to his lips.

To say that he handled his first try with alcohol with grace would have been a severe understatement. Just one look at his face with the mouthful of burning liquid was enough to cause chuckling around the group again, but then after he swallowed the liquid, they all burst into hysterical laughter as he basically gagged on the stuff. Needless to say, he was embarrassed.

Eventually, everyone started to come down from their high, some having to wipe tears from their eyes, and that's when Sabine happened a glance over to Ezra and found that he was looking right back at her, their eyes instantly locking onto each other. She could see his embarrassment but also saw anger building right before he tossed the flask over to the next person and stood from his seat, walking away from the group.

All the laughter immediately stopped when this happened, everyone looking back at one another, wondering if maybe they'd allowed their emotions to get the best of them and hurt the young Jedi's feelings. Ketsu took that moment to look over at Sabine to see how she would respond, but when Wini stood up and followed after Ezra, the only thing that happened was Sabine's facial expression darkened to an almost murderous intent.

Gavyn also noticed Sabine's demeanor, and wondered if Sabine would've been the one to go after Ezra had Wini not left first. And while Sabine didn't leave, he knew that her thoughts were somewhere else, or rather, with someone else. That notion caused his mood to sour to the point that he didn't even notice when the bottle was being held in front of him until he was tapped on the shoulder with it.

Gavyn didn't hesitate after that, taking more than his fair share before setting the base of the bottle on Sabine's lap. She jumped a bit when the bottle made contact with her legs, and it took her a second to regain her bearings before she took her share and passed the flask to Ketsu.

Ketsu playfully bumped their shoulders together as she took her turn, but she wasn't done with her little sister yet. She'd seen both Sabine's expression and Gavyn's as well. It was obvious that Sabine hadn't straightened things out yet, and figured it might be fun to help push her along. "It should be a fun mission, sharing a place with your Jedi friend." She said, smiling like a tooka that'd caught its prey.

If they could have, Sabine's eyes would've bulged out of her head upon hearing Ketsu's statement. "They're not getting us separate rooms?" Sabine asked. "Why?"

"You'd have to ask someone with more authority than me to figure that out," Ketsu said.

Sabine let out a frustrated sigh. Sharing a room with Ezra wasn't going to be very enjoyable, and especially since she was still a little hurt by his absence during her recovery. She planned to speak with Hera to raise her objections about being paired with Ezra in a single room for an unknown amount of time. But before she did that, she needed to read up on the report to find out if there would be any other unnecessary difficulties to object to.

Ketsu, as usual, seemed to know what Sabine would do, already holding the data tablet out. Sabine took it and pulled up the specs, first confirming that Ketsu hadn't been teasing. She confirmed that the Rebellion had set them both up with positions inside an Imperial Arms facility, where Ezra was going to be in an entry-level position on the factory floor while Sabine would be serving from a higher-level permission within the R and D department.

So, the plan was that Ezra would be handling the parts for weapons already in production while Sabine would have the opportunity to look into the more experimental ones. That part of the plan, she couldn't argue with, as between the two of them they should be able to find something about what this weapon was. Maybe even a few other ones if they were lucky.

But there was still the issue of sharing a room with Ezra to deal with. So, Sabine handed the datapad back to a still smirking Ketsu and got up to seek out Hera. If she could manage it, maybe she would be able to get some last-minute changes such as the sleeping arrangements approved.

* * *

The trip to Arkania was quiet for the most part. Although having to travel via commercial shuttle was more of the cause behind it than anything else. When they arrived at a spaceport nearby the planet, the extraction team exited the shuttle while Ezra and Sabine stayed behind to continue onto the planet's surface.

Things became a little more intense when they each first laid eyes on the room. It was smaller than either of them had anticipated. Another thing they both noticed was how there weren't many walls to separate rooms aside from the fresher, everything else seeming to blend in together in order to conserve space. Privacy was definitely going to be an issue.

Upon completing an initial sweep of their small living quarters, Sabine dumped her things off and went to head back out. Finding a cantina that would serve someone her age without asking questions was a must at the moment. She needed a drink badly if she was going to have to put up with the cramped conditions along with her new roommate. Had it not been for being forced to leave her armor behind as part of the mission directive, she would've been gone already.

"Where are you going?" Ezra asked when he heard the apartment door slide open for her.

"Out," was her simple answer.

"Out?" Ezra parroted. "I thought we were supposed to go over the plan for our first day of work with the Imperial Arms facility."

"There will be plenty of time for that later," Sabine said as she stepped out into the hallway. "I'm not going to be stuck in this puny apartment complex unless I have to be."

"Well, I could always come with you." Ezra offered, thinking this would be as good an opportunity as any to help advance their relationship.

"I don't think so," Sabine said, shutting him down before stepping back in and closing the door to give them some more privacy. "I'm not in the mood to deal with pretending that we're a couple right now, and if you come with me, there's always the chance that someone could see us. I don't know about you, but I don't want to blow our cover on the first day."

Ezra wanted to argue that it would be good practice, but he could see that she wasn't up for that kind of practice, and it made him wonder why he was so repulsive to her. When he turned away to head back into the living area of the apartment, Sabine reached for the door controls again, only to hear him grumbling. "I'm really beginning to regret being on this mission with you."

Sabine stopped and turned back toward the retreating Jedi, furious now. "What did you say?"

Ezra turned back to his roommate, anger showing clearly in his features as well. "If I knew you hated being around me this much, I would've asked for someone else to take on this mission in the first place." He reiterated.

Sabine's jaw dropped open when Ezra's words registered. She didn't hate being around him. She just hadn't gotten over Ezra's absence when she was injured. And once again, her struggles with sharing how she felt managed to throw a wrench into things. That drink seemed even more important, and so instead of making things worse, she left.

Ezra stood there as he watched Sabine leave him behind. He didn't know what to do or how things had turned out so badly, especially when things had finally begun to turn around after helping her save Ketsu from the Black Sun. Now things seemed terribly wrong as if he'd already lost his chance with her, and Gavyn stepping right in.

He was angry about the situation he was now in, about Sabine's cold shoulder, and especially about Gavyn. Why couldn't he just catch a break? He'd done everything right, hadn't he? Sabine was a Mandalorian, and being a Mandalorian meant that she didn't like weakness. She'd stopped visiting him when he started to recover from his injuries, and she didn't even really warm back up to him again until he was back on missions. Even then he had to successfully be a crucial part again before she really started to treat him like normal again.

And then there was helping to save Ketsu. She didn't even hesitate with who she wanted at her side to rescue her old friend. During that mission and when they returned to treat Sabine's injuries, she seemed so accepting of his careful caresses. She'd allowed him to hold her hand or help her to get up for the short walk to a fresher. Things seemed to be going so well, and he wanted to show her that he didn't think she was weak by giving Sabine her space as she had with him.

That was what the Holocron had shared with him about Mandalorians. He didn't understand what went wrong, and he wished that he hadn't left the Holocron behind. He needed advice on what to do because destroying their temporary living quarters in a rage-filled tantrum was beginning to feel appropriate. Then again, maybe Sabine's idea about leaving had merit. Maybe he could find somewhere else to let off some steam if he were to go out as well.

* * *

It'd been a little more than a couple of hours since she'd left Ezra behind in the apartment. Sabine was seated at a bar in a little cantina off the beaten path. Over the years, she'd found that places like these were the best to be served regardless of age. She chose to drink on the Rebellion's dime since it hadn't been willing to spring for better accommodations. She figured they could take this financial hit to offset her frustrations, tipping yet another glass up and downing the liquid in a quick gulp before slamming the glass back onto the bar top.

The bartender didn't miss the signal, filling her glass back up yet again. Sabine smiled in appreciation before she sent that shot chasing after the previous one. However, when she finished this drink, she didn't slam the glass back down. Instead, she set it down and leaned her forehead against the cool surface. While this stuff might not have been Tihaar, it was still doing the trick for her nerves.

"Think you'd be up for one more?" A voice called to her as she sensed someone taking a seat on the barstool next to hers.

Sabine lifted her head off the bar top to address this new person but gave pause when her eyes focused on this person. He was attractive and reminded her of some times from her bounty hunting days in the past. Whoever he was, he had a friendly, disarming smile, and was holding two drinks with one outstretched toward her. "Depends on what it is, I guess," was her answer as she took the drink and peered inside the glass.

"It's just some Arkanian sweet milk." The man answered, still smiling brilliantly at her. "You don't look like you're from around here, and I thought you might want to try something that my homeworld is known for."

Sabine might've been inclined to ask what gave her away, but she knew that like the man next to her, Arkanians tended to have white, shimmering hair, and hers, while altered by coloring, was definitely not. So, she chose to play along as she took a sip of the drink. "I guess I do kind of stick out a little with my look," she acknowledged. "I just transferred here today for my new job with IA in a couple of days."

"Working for the Empire, eh?" The man asked, and Sabine responded with a nod. "That makes sense then. Most of the outsiders on the planet tend to come here working for Imperial Arms."

"That isn't a bad thing, is it?" She asked.

The man smiled. "Nah," he said. "Besides, I like a little diversity in life, but where are my manners. I'm Derkian, Derkian Alding."

"Ria Talla," Sabine responded.

"Well Ria," Derkian said while raising his glass. "May your time here be fruitful."

Sabine clinked her glass up against Derkian's before pulling it back to her lips and downing the liquid. Derkian took a little longer to finish his drink, which brought another smile to her face, and from that point on, their conversation began to flow. Before she knew it, another pair of drinks were ordered and finished.

Things were going so well in fact, that when Sabine laughed animatedly at one of Derkian's funny stories, she lost her balance, having to reach her hand out to catch her balance. She nearly surprised herself when she realized that she didn't instantly remove her hand from his lap because of where it landed. Derkian didn't seem to mind though as he only looked down briefly before smiling at her and continuing with his stories.

The rest of the conversation was a blur, and before Sabine knew what was happening, she was being helped out of the cantina by her new companion. She was struggling to keep her balance as Derkian helped her down the street. At one point, she stumbled into Derkian, who managed to catch her before she fell to the ground.

That was when Sabine noticed a couple of things. First, she didn't know where she was, and secondly, that Derkian's face was closing in on hers. Normally, she wouldn't want to show any sign of intimacy with someone she'd just met, but this time she didn't seem to have any qualms as his lips met hers.

As he continued to kiss her, she recalled another time in her past when she was willing to kiss someone else she didn't know, and that memory gave her enough pause to fight the growing desire for Derkian to continue what he was doing with her.

Sabine found a moment when he pulled back for a breath to force herself to speak. "Wait," she mumbled, continuing to fight what felt like a losing battle within herself. There was a little inkling that felt off, but it was evaporating quickly.

"It's alright, Ria," he said, full of confidence. "We can go back to my place for some privacy. I promise you'll enjoy it."

Derkian then leaned in again for another kiss, and Sabine wanted to stop it, but couldn't fight the growing want within her. Then his lips crashed into hers again, and this time her mind became more clouded with desire, causing her to kiss him back. And that was when it happened.

"What exactly do you think my fiancé is going to enjoy at your place?" A voice asked from behind Sabine.

The question was enough to break the intimate kiss, and Sabine managed to look over her shoulder, finding a blurry looking Ezra with his arms crossed over his chest. If her vision would've been clear, she also would've seen the absolute fury all over his face. "If this were my fiancé, I wouldn't let her go to a cantina alone," Derkian said as he slid an arm around Sabine's shoulders to lead her back to his home. "And if she is your fiancé, that means she can be with whomever she wants. She isn't yours yet, so maybe you should cut your losses and find someone else."

"Maybe you should get your hands off of her," Ezra growled.

"Why?" was the only response Derkian gave before he started to usher Sabine away from this interruption.

Ezra allowed the piece of bantha fodder to walk just past him before he reacted, and then latched onto Derkian's arm, spinning the Arkanian directly into a vicious uppercut that sent Derkian staggering back. But that wasn't enough for the Jedi as he raced forward. He lashed out with some body blows before returning to Derkian's head with a left hook, followed by grabbing onto his head and pulling it down nose-first into his knee.

He brought his knee up into Derkian's face over and over until the Arkanian stop resisting completely. Ezra then let him crumple to the ground, unconscious as he stood over him, still seething. He tried to reign in his desire to cut the Arkanian to pieces, but Sabine, who was laying on the ground, managed to grab Ezra by his ankle, snapping him out of his rage.

Everything else stopped for Ezra when he saw Sabine weakly grabbing onto him. He knelt down and gently helped Sabine to her feet before taking her back to their apartment. Nothing much was as they approached the apartment door. Once they were safely inside, Ezra moved Sabine onto the small couch that was meant to serve as his bed during their mission. He propped her up there so that he could get the bed ready for her.

Once he had the bed covering pulled back, he turned to Sabine, only to find her gazing at him with half-lidded eyes. Her mouth was open slightly, and if he wasn't mistaken, it seemed that she was panting. Ezra wasn't exactly sure what to do, but thought that it would be a good idea to make sure to keep Sabine hydrated. So, he went to the galley area and brought her back a glass of water, which she sloppily chugged as soon as he helped her put the cup to her mouth.

She ended up wearing more of the water than she drank, and a wet shirt wasn't going to be comfortable to sleep in. So, Sabine reached down to her waist and whipped the shirt up over her head before flinging it across the room. Free of the soaked garment, she sighed and leaned back into the couch, feeling much more relaxed. "That's better," She said.

Ezra had to fight himself internally to avert his gaze at first but quickly lost the battle once Sabine sighed as she settled back onto the couch. He needed to get her to bed before he did something stupid, so he knelt in front of her and helped to remove her boots. "Let's get you to bed so you can sleep off whatever that guy did to you." He said, setting her removed boots aside.

He stood up and reached for Sabine's hands, pulling her into a standing position, and found that it was really difficult to control his urges with a half-naked Sabine in his arms. Her bare skin was amazingly soft and he couldn't help but feel a little enjoyment. It also didn't help when she suddenly put her arms around his neck to help keep herself upright.

Ezra stood there for a moment, lost in the thrill of having a willing Sabine in his arms, but eventually walked back the short distance to the small bed. When his legs connected with the side of it, Ezra helped Sabine onto it, but when he tried to tuck her in, she suddenly short-circuited his brain by latching back onto his neck and pulling him in for a passionate kiss.

He didn't know what to do. This was something that he'd wanted and been dreaming of for as long as he'd been a part of the Ghost crew. At first, he responded in kind, but eventually, his senses returned and he pulled away. No matter how badly he wanted this, it wasn't right, but Sabine continued to pull, which caused him to fall on top of her.

Ezra found himself in a fight for control, Sabine's hands constantly exploring as much of him as she could manage before he managed to wrap her up. Unfortunately, restraining her ended with Sabine on top of him with her back pressed against his front. From that position, she tried to use other parts of her anatomy to get a response out of him, and it very nearly worked. "Stay with me," she said as she tried leaning her head back to kiss him on his neck.

As Sabine continued trying to seduce him, Ezra couldn't help but continue to think about how life wasn't fair. Why couldn't Sabine want him like this when she wasn't under the influence of some foreign substance? There was still a part of him that was tempted to take advantage of the current situation, but if he did, when she did sober up, she would surely hate him for the rest of his days. And he knew that he would hate himself too.

So, he worked to free himself from being pinned down while keeping her at bay, but Sabine wasn't having any of it. Whenever he did manage to slip away, she simply refused to stay in bed alone. If he moved away, she simply got up to join him wherever he went, and her current state of undress was making him really struggle to behave.

Eventually, he coaxed her into wearing one of his shirts but had to compromise by giving her the shirt off his back and also promise to lay down with her. She wasn't really behaving herself, and the first couple of hours were sleepless for him as Sabine struggled to keep her hands at bay. But Ezra did manage to eventually get her to fall asleep by holding her with one arm while running his fingers through her hair with his free hand. There was just something about running his fingers through soft hair that soothed him, and it seemed to soothe Sabine as well.

Sabine did eventually manage to fall asleep though as Ezra remained underneath her in a semi-seated position. It wasn't very comfortable but allowed him to keep a better eye on her. He also took the time to ponder how he was going to explain things in the morning if for some reason Sabine didn't recall what happened once she woke back up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Next up, Ezra and Sabine try to avoid the elephant in the room as they start becoming acclimated to their roles within the weapons factory.


	11. Chapter 11: Awkwardness is the Word

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The elephant in the room becomes unavoidable thanks to poor choices and consequences

Sabine slowly roused out of her slumber in a state of confusion. Her normal morning routine usually began with her popping right out of bed before the sun rose over the horizon, but that wasn't happening this morning. For when she did wake up and tried opening her eyes, she had to instantly slam them shut as the brightness was too much for her brain to handle.

She was sure that she now knew what it would feel like if a star destroyer had landed on top of her head. It hurt to move, and so she decided to stay in her current position until the throbbing settled to a more manageable level. She also silently vowed to herself that she would lay off drinking for a while.

She tried her best to relax despite the pain in her head, but once she was awake, it was very rare for her to fall back asleep, and this time was no different as her mind began to race, searching for details on what all happened that put her in this current state. She'd been drunk before, but this didn't feel the same as the other times during her bounty hunting days.

Sabine had heard the term blackout drunk before, but she'd never experienced anything like that before. Almost every other time she'd been drunk, things may have been fuzzy, or she experienced having some temporarily forgotten details, but she was struggling to remember anything at all. In fact, she didn't even know where she was at the current moment, and that caused some panic to rise inside.

She tried opening her eyes again, but that same brightness forced her to slam them back shut. She really began to panic, but came to yet another realization. She may not have known where she was, but for some reason, she felt completely safe. She wasn't sure why she felt that way, but something just felt right.

She couldn't put her finger on it, but once again her brain finally started to function, and her other senses started to register. What she was using as a pillow wasn't soft, but was comfortable until she started to move her hand. That was when it hit her like a blaster bolt. She wasn't lying on a pillow at all. She was lying on someone's bare chest!

Whoever it was, she could feel that they had a chiseled physique as her fingers glided along the ridges of this person's upper body. She could feel the definition as she trailed her fingers downward until they stopped around the person's hips, obstructed by pants, which gave her some relief. Perhaps all she'd done that night was sleep.

But then there was the scent. It was familiar, and she struggled to recall where it came from until her hand involuntarily dragged back up the side of her makeshift pillow, causing that person's hand to move and stop her from moving hers any farther.

"Don't," came the mumbling voice just above her head. "Tickles."

She could feel the rumbling of his voice through his chest, and she completely relaxed when she realized that it was Ezra's sent and Ezra's voice. It was Ezra's chest she used as a pillow. She almost sighed until her pesky brain once again flashed. It was Ezra she was laying on! She'd just slept in the same bed with Ezra!

Brightness ceased to matter at that point as Sabine immediately leaped off of Ezra and out of bed, taking the covers with her. "What the kriff!" Sabine yelled at Ezra before instantly regretting it as the headache returned in full force.

"Good morning to you too," Ezra grumbled as he got out of bed on the opposite side from his still startled roommate. "How are you feeling?"

Sabine snapped her eyes shut when she saw Ezra standing there in his chiseled glory. She would later use the guise of the sunlight being the reason when it was anything but. "My head is killing me," She said as she tried to calm herself, but her mind was having none of it. At least he was still wearing his pants from the day before, and she tried to convince herself that nothing happened that night based solely on that one fact.

"You're probably still dehydrated," Ezra reasoned as he walked over to the small kitchen area and grabbed her a glass of water. "I tried to get to you drink some water last night, but you were pretty out of it by the time I got you back to our room. Plus, I'm pretty sure you wore more than you got in your mouth."

Ezra then approached her with the glass, handing it out to her along with some medication for her aching head. She gratefully took them both, letting go of the bedding long enough to pop the pills into her mouth and chase them down with the refreshing, cool liquid. Then something else triggered.

Ezra was shirtless but had his pants on, and she realized where his shirt was when she looked down. She then felt the chill of the room hitting her bare legs, and completely flipped out. "Seriously Ezra! What! The! Kriff!"

"Nothing happened Sabine, I swear," Ezra said, holding his hands up in surrender. He hadn't done anything wrong for the most part, and if Sabine hadn't taken him by surprise on a couple of occasions through the night, he would've been completely innocent.

Sabine, however, forgot about the pain in her head and frantically searched for her pants. It took a couple of agonizing moments before eventually spotting them in a pile of shame at the foot of the bed. What had she done? Or rather, what hadn't she done? And why couldn't she remember anything from that night? Shame filled her to the brim and she couldn't believe how stupid she'd been. It was such an overwhelming feeling that she even forgot about her pants and just dropped back down onto the bed.

She couldn't believe that she let something like this happen. How was she going to deal with being around Ezra now? What if she had given in during the night and done more than just slept in bed Ezra? If she did have sex with him, would he actually tell her, or just keep it hidden from her so that he'd get both what he wanted from her physically as well as ensuring their friendship behind a lie? Sabine shook her head at the last thought though. Ezra was her best friend, and because of that, he wouldn't have taken advantage of her, would he?

She didn't know what to say or what to do when Ezra knelt in front of her. She then went as stiff as a piece of duracrete the instant he took her hand into his. She had many thoughts pass through her mind then, ranging anywhere from simply yanking her hand away and fleeing to pummeling Ezra for whatever he'd allowed to go on. But then he reached forward, lifting her chin until he could look her in the eyes. There was a deep concern in his eyes, but that wasn't all. She saw the sincerity in them as well, and that allowed her to calm her nerves, if only slightly.

"After you left me at the apartment, I decided that maybe I should head out too," Ezra explained as he sat down next to Sabine, still holding her hand. She felt extremely vulnerable at the moment, more so than she could ever recall feeling before, but needed to know what happened, even if it was from Ezra's perspective.

"So, I did," he continued. "I didn't know where to go, and I wasn't looking for you at first. But then I came back and you still weren't here. You'd been gone for hours at that point, and I started to worry. So, I went back out again, but this time I was definitely looking for you."

"I remember finding a local cantina," Sabine said as she tried to fight through the cloudy memories. "I just wanted to have a couple of drinks before I came back."

"When I found you, you were already pretty out of it." Ezra pointed out. "It seemed like you couldn't stand on your own without help. And…there was this guy."

"A guy?" Sabine asked, not recalling why she would've been with someone.

"Yeah," Ezra confirmed. "He was a real piece of work. So, I tried using our cover story to get him to back off, but he wasn't having any of it. Instead, he tried to take you back to his place, and in your current condition, I decided to talk him out of it."

"You didn't kill him, did you?" She asked. If Ezra had done that, then this mission would be over before it even began.

"No, but I'll bet it'll be a while before he tries anything stupid like that again," Ezra answered before he continued. "Then I brought you back here. I tried to get you to drink some water, but when that didn't work, I thought maybe if I just got you to sleep off whatever was in your system, you'd feel better."

"What about the clothes?" Sabine asked. "Why am I wearing your shirt? I mean, I can understand needing to change out of a wet shirt, but why not just get one of my shirts?"

At that, Ezra let go of her hand and instead reached back to rub the back of his neck. He didn't want to go into details for fear that she might not believe him, but he could see that Sabine didn't just want answers, she needed them. So, he took a deep breath and pressed on. "That's what confirmed for me that you couldn't just be drunk." He said. "I went to get the bed ready, and when I turned around, you had taken your shirt off."

Sabine's eyes widened, almost in disbelief. She couldn't believe that she would do something like that, drunk or not, but the story didn't end there. "I tried convincing you to put on something else, but the only thing you were willing to accept was if I took my shirt off for you to wear." Ezra continued. "Then I helped you get into bed, and you kind of…pulled me in with you."

"Is that all?" Sabine asked, but deep down knew there was more. "And what about my pants?"

"Well, after I got tired of you not letting me sleep someplace else that wasn't with you, I gave in and we ended up lying in bed together," Ezra said. "You were a little handsy with me at first, but eventually I got you to fall asleep on top of me. As for your pants, you took them off after a fresher break midway through the night."

Ezra hoped that would quell Sabine's need for information because he really didn't want to get into what happened to wake him up in the middle of the night, but then she noticed something on him. "If that's all that happened then what's that on your neck?"

* * *

_Ezra was typically a deep sleeper, but worry had him constantly waking up throughout the night. Every murmur, moan, groan, or flinch from the person on top of him was all it took to wake him. Sabine lying on him was a difficult enough situation to handle aside from trying to get at least a little sleep. Even when she was asleep, her hands still seemed to be awake._

_Ezra tried on more than one occasion to slip away whenever he heard Sabine's breathing mix in with a soft, little snore, letting him know she was deep asleep. However, every time he tried to move out from under her, Sabine's hands would start roaming again. And because of her active hands, Ezra was beginning to struggle with remaining in control of not only her but himself as well._

_He'd always known that Sabine was deceptively strong, especially for such a lithe figure, but as the night wore on, he was really starting to struggle to keep her hands at bay. Sometimes they would even make it under his waistband before he could regain control. She came dangerously close more than once to latching onto somewhere that no one else aside from him or doctors had touched before._

_Then, on his final attempt to slip away from temptation, one of Sabine's legs slung over the top of his, effectively trapping him. To make matters worse, she also snuggled her face into the crook of his neck, where her hot breath against his skin was pure torture. It was excruciating for him, having to lay there with her melded to him, but he didn't seem to have a choice in the matter._

_He'd just managed to accept his current predicament and relax when she once again jolted awake. Sabine jolted straight for the fresher before Ezra could even register what was happening. Ezra waited for a minute or two, listening intently for any sounds indicating that Sabine might be vomiting, but no such noises came._

_He waited for another minute or so before he began to climb out of bed, but then the door to the fresher slid open again. Ezra had to force down the lump that suddenly grew in his throat at the sight before him. It was Sabine, leaning in the doorway with a look on her face that, while he'd never seen from her before, he still instantly knew what it meant._

_Sabine made her way to the bed, swaying her hips with more pronunciation than Ezra could recall her ever doing before. She was also gripping the top of her pants as she approached, but he didn't pay that any mind until she showed him why when she was at the foot of the bed. She intentionally hadn't fastened her pants, making it quicker for her to slide them down her long, luscious legs._

_Ezra's mouth went dry at what he saw and his brain locked up as Sabine stepped out of her pants. She smiled at him as she leaned down and then crawled across the bed to him. He almost felt like she'd put him into some kind of a trance as he laid there, propped up slightly on the back of his forearms as she came within reach of him. Sabine put one of her hands directly on Ezra's bare chest and "coaxed" him into lying down fully before she straddled over him._

_If Ezra had been a droid at that precise moment, warnings would've blared about operation systems failures. His breathing turned erratic as soon as Sabine lowered herself down onto him to where her body was almost fully pressed against his front. He was certain that she was going to try and kiss him again, and he wasn't sure if he could take that again from her without giving in to his base urges. So, he turned his head away in retreat, but that was a grievous error._

_Sabine saw the opening presenting itself, and she took advantage, going for his ear first. Ezra's eyes snapped open at the unexpected sensation. He didn't know what to do, and then when Sabine gently blew on his ear, he nearly lost his mind. If that wasn't torture enough though, Sabine moving to Ezra's neck next certainly was._

_She began using her tongue, and the soft flicks of it against Ezra's skin officially overloaded his circuits. He couldn't stop the gasp that escaped him, and he could feel the small grin form on her lips as she continued to torture him. "I want you," she whispered before sliding her body slightly down on his until her rear met a little resistance that hadn't been there before, causing her grin to grow into a full-blown smile. "And it feels like you want me too."_

_"_ _I do," he admitted as he desperately tried to think of a way to escape. "More than anything, but I need to know that it's honestly you saying that."_

_Sabine groaned as she dragged the fingernails of her left hand down Ezra's chest. It wasn't hard enough to draw blood, but it was more than enough to get a response from his body. "It is me," she said as she stopped teasing his neck and made her move for his lips._

_Ezra began praying to any deity he could think of for help. Every fiber in his body wanted to believe what Sabine was telling him, but he had to be sure before he gave in completely. "I love you, Sabine," he confessed as he grabbed her by the hips. Sabine let out an excited semi-squeal at the contact. "And that's why I can't do this with you tonight. I promised you that I would stay in bed with you, and I will. But I want to wait until tomorrow night before we do anything else. If you still want me then, then I'll do anything you ask."_

_The smile and desire instantly drained from Sabine's face. "But I need you now, Ezra." She argued._

_"_ _I know you do," Ezra replied before suddenly using his grip to force her off of him for the most part. She did manage to keep a leg draped over him, but he had the rest of her lying next to him at that point. However, Sabine wasn't about to give in yet and tried to climb back on him, only for him to grab one of her wrists and hold it on his chest as he turned to his side. Sabine still had her head lifted, looking right at him, and it nearly broke everything in him to hold his ground with his decision. "Just stay here with me like this, and I promise you that I'll do whatever you ask tomorrow."_

_Sabine huffed in disappointment and tried to pull away, but Ezra kept his hold on her wrist. She tried to fight to gain control, but he held strong until she stopped fighting him. When Ezra was more sure that Sabine wouldn't try again, he rolled onto his back again, allowing her to lay her head back onto his chest. "Stupid boy," she grumbled in finality, and he hoped that she wasn't right about that._

* * *

Ezra had gone into the fresher for a mirror after Sabine asked what was on his neck, and the evidence gave him no choice but to confess to everything that had happened aside from his little confession. Needless to say, Sabine didn't stick around long after finding out what she tried to do to him. She gave the excuse of finding some caf but Ezra knew that she needed the space and solitude to clear her head.

He, meanwhile, didn't know what he could do to fix this. Ezra had done everything he could, for the most part, to stop her from doing something when she wasn't in control, and he thought he'd done pretty well, all things considered. He could only imagine how much worse it might've gotten if he'd revealed professing his love for her that night.

Ezra did know that moping around the apartment wasn't going to give him any answers, but he couldn't seem to motivate himself to do much. He went through the motions in cleaning himself up for the day, ate a ration bar for breakfast, and then his communicator chimed.

It wasn't a live message when he opened the channel, but rather an encrypted message that read "E team in place" with coordinates for a rendezvous. And Ezra was happy to have something to do that might help keep his mind off of Sabine and what happened that night.

He went over to a holo-computer and input the provided coordinates, and found that it was at the closest marketplace. The location did seem to be a clever idea. He could pretend to be shopping, or maybe even actually make some purchases, and all the while look inconspicuous to any random onlooker. So, he put on his boots and headed for the first of what would surely be at least a few meetings.

As Ezra entered the marketplace, he found that it was booming for the most part. There were all kinds of various vendors along the streets selling a plethora of different items. Ezra tried to give off a casual vibe, perusing a few different vendor's stands before eventually settling into the one he was actually there for. Unfortunately for him, Gavyn happened to be managing the stand. There were a couple of customers checking out what Gavyn had to offer, one of them even making a purchase before it was Ezra's turn.

"Not a bad selection you've got here," Ezra commented as he perused what all the Rebels had to offer. At first, he hadn't planned to make any purchases, but what they had on display looked like it'd make a good first home-cooked meal on the planet.

"We've got a good supply that should last for a while," Gavyn said. "I'd suggest the Dorian passion fruit whenever you have something worth trading."

Ezra caught the hint from Gavyn and made a note to remember the code for delivering any reported findings. The location of the fruit would also make it easy for a successful hand-off as the bin for it was closest to Gavyn's seat behind the vendor stand. Either Ezra or Sabine could just drop any form of data as they reached forward to pick up the fruit, and no one would be the wiser.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Ezra said as he turned to the other side to could grab a couple jogan fruits when Gavyn once more grabbed his attention.

"What….is that?" he asked, pointing at Ezra's neck. "How did you…wait, you didn't with Sabine, did you?"

"It's nothing," Ezra said a little too quickly for Gavyn's liking, which wasn't helped as Ezra followed up by trying unsuccessfully to hide it behind the collar of his jacket.

"Whatever," Gavyn grumbled, not believing Ezra for an instant. "Just get what you need for today, and come back each day for enough food to keep you both fed. Remember what I said about the Dorian fruit."

"Yeah, sure," Ezra responded. He could see the anger growing from Gavyn and knew it would be best to be on his way before he slipped and revealed how pleased that just made him. So, he pulled out the necessary amount of credits to complete the transaction and went on his way.

He thought about contacting Sabine as he trekked back to their apartment, but decided against it in favor of continuing to give her the space she might need. If she wanted to talk to him, she knew how to reach him.

To his surprise though, when he opened the door to the apartment, Sabine had already returned. Ezra tried to think of something to say to her as he carried the supplies over to the kitchen, but Sabine was seated on the edge of the bed with her arms wrapped tightly around herself, and her eyes fixated on the floor. It was plain to see that she wasn't acting like herself

The desire to help her was consuming, but he didn't know how or what he could do. So, instead, he stalled for time by putting all of the items he'd gotten away. He still occasionally spared a glance over to Sabine, only to find that she hadn't moved much, if at all. It was like she'd been frozen where she sat, and it made him feel terrible for her. He knew that the Holocron had told him about Mandalorians being a prideful group who wouldn't stand for weakness of any kind, but he couldn't just let her stay like that. He had to do something, even if it would end up biting him in the ass. "Look, Sabine…I…"

"Thank you," she whispered, interrupting him.

"For what?" he asked, surprised by her words.

"Whoever that shabuir you told me about was, he slipped something into one of my drinks without me knowing it," Sabine explained. "I confirmed it because it was still in my system when I went to get checked out this morning. The doctor told me that there's been a rise in cases like mine where women have been taken advantage of, but you saved me. So, thank you."

"You would've done the same for me," Ezra nearly scoffed, as he walked over and sat next to her.

But Sabine was still looking at the floor. "No Ezra, you don't understand," she said. "I don't know what would've happened, but I know it would've been bad and this guy could've gotten anything he wanted from me. I let my guard down around a complete stranger because…"

Sabine paused in what she was saying, and Ezra figured it was either that she couldn't decide what to say next or maybe that she had already said too much. He didn't know which it was, but the silence quickly became deafening. "Because what?" He asked, prompting her gently to keep going.

"It doesn't matter," she eventually said, finally looking him in the eyes. "The point is, I still don't know what happened aside from what you told me. So, I probably owe you an apology too. And ask if you can forgive me for almost screwing up the entire mission. But really, I just hope that we can keep what happened between us."

At that, Ezra knew he was going to be in trouble, and he began nervously rubbing the back of his neck, which Sabine knew full well was one of his tells. "About that," he responded, guilt also clearly written in the tone of his voice.

And the full of contrition Sabine was instantly replaced by an angry one. "What did you do? Go off bragging to anyone who would listen?"

"No," Ezra answered before diving right into an explanation. "While you were away, the evac team made contact. They're set up as a vendor stand in the local marketplace to give us a way to make information drops by buying a Dorian passion fruit. We're also supposed to go there to purchase our rations for each day."

"Get to the point," Sabine barked.

"Gavyn was the one who was there," Ezra said quickly. "And I thought I had it covered up, but he still noticed the mark on my neck. I didn't tell him anything but judging by his reaction, I'm pretty sure he came to his own conclusion about what happened."

"Haar'chak!" Sabine growled loudly as she shot up and began to pace in front of him. "What were you thinking?"

"I was thinking about the mission!" Ezra argued, now getting frustrated in return. "It's not like I intended for anyone to think we fooled around."

"We didn't, or at least that's what you told me," Sabine replied, her voice continuing to rise.

"Well, it wasn't for lack of trying by you," Ezra shot back, but instantly regretted it. He knew she was upset, and needed to keep that in mind as he continued. "Believe me, I could've, but I did everything in my power to make sure that we didn't. I knew it wasn't really you, and that if I did give in I'd only end up losing you as my friend. I didn't want to lose you, Sabine, even though it feels like that's still what's happening."

Sabine's mouth snapped shut. His words made her realize that she was basically accusing Ezra of flat out lying to her. They had been friends for years, and while jokes were one thing, Sabine couldn't recall Ezra ever lying to her before, especially when it was a serious topic like this. So, he deserved the benefit of the doubt until he gave her reason not to. "I believe you," she finally said. "I'm sorry for making you think that I didn't. I'm just not used to being so weak and making such dumb decisions."

"You're anything but weak or dumb," Ezra said. "I've seen you do amazing things that no normal person could."

"But I still put myself in that position to be taken advantage of," Sabine pointed out. "It was stupid and careless."

"That just means you're human," Ezra countered. "You know I've made my fair share of dumb choices, and besides, no one's perfect. I'm just glad I found you when I did."

"Yeah," Sabine responded, once again hugging herself.

"Can I…" Ezra suddenly said as he stood up only to pause as Sabine flinched at his movement.

She wondered what Ezra started to ask, and what he was doing when he came to a stop right in front of her. She wanted to panic but something inside gave her the feeling that nothing bad or unwelcomed was going to happen. Then Ezra opened his arms and took one final step forward before he enveloped her in a protective hug.

She flinched at first but quickly was consumed with that same feeling she'd experienced earlier that morning. It was that sense of pure safety again, but this time it was more prevalent without the lingering effects of the drugs. She allowed herself to enjoy the warm and pleasant feeling, and almost didn't want it to end, but couldn't quite bring herself to return the hug.

It didn't take long for Ezra to notice that she wasn't returning the affectionate embrace, so he released her after only a few short moments while secretly hoping it wouldn't be the last time. "You're my best friend, Sabine," Ezra suddenly told her. "And whether we're getting along or not, I want you to always know that."

"You're my best friend too, Ezra," Sabine admitted, smiling for the first time that day. "And you're not losing me."

* * *

By that day's end, Sabine was acting more and more like herself, but something was a little different too. Ezra thought that she seemed a little happier, a little friendlier. It was nice to be getting along with each other again, which was a welcomed change.

Neither Ezra nor Sabine admitted it to each other, but they both enjoyed how the evening went. They decided to just stay even went over how they were going to handle the first day of work the following morning at Imperial Arms. Ezra offered to once again head to the market place before going into the weapons manufacturer, but Sabine let him know that wouldn't be necessary.

If Gavyn had a problem with what didn't happen from the previous night, she would find a way to nip that in the bud. They couldn't risk the mission over hurt feelings, and Gavyn would learn that if he didn't already know it. She would set the record straight if she felt that it would be necessary for the success of the mission. Then hopefully, they could forget about that nightmare of a night that could've ended so much worse than a couple of light scratches and a hickey.

Once they had everything squared away after what had been an enjoyable dinner meal, Ezra took a pillow and blanket from the bed and made his way to the couch. Sabine felt a little guilty due to Ezra's refusal to take the bed. She even considered asking if he wanted to share the bed with her, but she felt uneasy about that after everything the previous night. There was something inside telling her that she'd end up making another decision she might regret, and she'd already done enough of that on this mission. So, she kept quiet instead as she laid down and closed her eyes.

As the night progressed, Sabine tossed and turned as sleep seemed to elude her. No matter what position she was in or what she tried, nothing seemed to work. It quickly became frustrating just lying there, so she got up to grab something to drink. She quickly downed some cold water and set the glass on the counter she was leaning against.

Sabine then took a moment to look around the room until she eventually making it to the couch and the occupant using it for a bed. She became a little envious as Ezra didn't seem to be struggling to sleep at all, but she couldn't blame him. All the struggling with a sexually charged, if out of her mind Mandalorian had to be exhausting for him. He did mention having to wait for her to fall asleep before he could throughout the night.

Normally, if she was struggling to sleep, she would find something to paint, but there weren't any walls that would be appropriate, and she didn't have any canvas with her. either Also, she wasn't typically quiet when she was painting, and that would certainly keep Ezra up as well.

So, she huffed in frustration as she traipsed back to the bed and plopped down, resigning for some more tossing and turning in the hope that she'd find sleep before daybreak. Sabine turned over once, twice, and then punched her pillow before Ezra's soft, tired voice grabbed her attention. "What's wrong?" He wearily asked.

"Sorry," she said as she turned over once more to face the couch and him. "I just can't get comfortable enough to sleep for some reason."

Ezra sighed as he pushed himself up into a seated position. He rubbed his fingers against his eyes for a moment, carefully considering something that had crossed his mind to help her. He just wondered if she would agree to his idea, which would only be an innocent offer to help.

Finally, he decided to come out with it and let the chips fall where they may. "If you'll let me," he said. "There was something I did last night that seemed to help."

At first, Sabine's mind went right to where Ezra feared it would, and she became defensive immediately. "We're not having sex, Ezra!"

"No," Ezra said with a frustrated sigh. "That's not what I was going to suggest."

Sabine still seemed to be a bit on edge, Ezra's words not offering much comfort. "Then explain what you were thinking to me," she said. "In detail."

"Showing you would be easier," he said right as he stood up and cautiously walked over to the bed. Sabine scooted over to the opposite side. Her movements made him think she might actually be afraid of what would happen if she let him get to close, and it broke his heart to see her acting this way. "I'm asking you to trust me, but I'll make you a deal. If you think I'm crossing any line with you, then all you have to do is say the word, and I'll stop."

Sabine was still somewhat hesitant but did eventually nod in acceptance to give his idea a try. Ezra was the first to move after that, sitting down on the bed and sliding up so that he had a pillow propped up between his back and the headboard, and then he motioned for Sabine to come closer to him.

She was frozen in place at first but did slide over closer to him. He helped her settle her head to rest in between his shoulder and his chest. She was still incredibly tense, so he figured providing some background might help. "This is something I remember my mom doing with me," he said as he slowly rose his hand up and laced his fingers in her hair, and started softly combing through it. "She used to let me do it to her too, and sometimes we'd both fall asleep.

The action seemed a little intimate to Sabine at first, but his explanation made her realize that Ezra wasn't doing anything wrong. All he was doing was gently gliding his fingers through her hair over and over again. At that point, Sabine felt some relief come to her, and the tension in her body finally subsided.

Slowly, Sabine became more and more comfortable. It wasn't much longer before her eyes started to become heavy. Her mind was still racing a bit, but it wasn't so much sexual anymore. That same feeling of being completely safe once again began to wash over her, and she allowed a yawn to slip past her lips as sleep finally seemed to be coming.

Ezra seemed to be dozing off a bit as well, murmuring "Your hair is really soft," and Sabine smiled at his kind words. Still, there was a small inkling in the back of her mind wondering if maybe he might be flirting, but she decided to let it slide this one time because she had agreed to let him help her sleep. Plus, even though she wouldn't admit it to anyone, his fingers sliding through her hair did feel pretty good, and with that, she finally drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Up next, Sabine and Ezra focus on completing the mission while they deal with their domesticated situation, begging the question of are they friends or more? Or less?


	12. Chapter 12: Focus on Domestication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 12: Focus on Domestication
> 
> Sabine and Ezra focus on completing the mission while they deal with their domesticated situation, begging the question of are they friends or more? Or less?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys and gals! Wow, it's been a little while, hasn't it? Things have been busy at home, and I do apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out, but hear me out. Halloween is my holiday. I go all out for it. All of the grass in my front yard is dead from foot traffic, thanks to the haunted maze that my family and I build for just one night, only to tear it back down again until next year. It was fun but took time away from stuff like writing fanfic chapters. Hopefully, this will be the last delay for a bit, and I'll get right to work on Chapter 13, but in the meantime, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. So, without further ado

For the second morning in a row, Sabine woke up after having used Ezra as a human pillow. Only this time she remembered everything that happened while she was awake. Ezra was still sleeping peacefully underneath her, giving her pause for a second straight morning to getting out of bed.

The sun hadn't risen yet and neither of them had to be at the factory for a few more hours, so Sabine decided to indulge this one time, and snuggled into Ezra a little more. She was surprised at how comfortable it felt lying in bed with Ezra but knew that she couldn't allow it to continue much longer. If she did, then their friendship would definitely be lost to something else. It might be good or it might be devastating, and she couldn't take that risk.

She'd told Ezra that he wasn't going to lose her, so how could she in good conscience allow them to throw their friendship to the wind the very next day over only a possibility? And where did this sudden desire for something more with Ezra come from? She'd never wanted anything remotely close to a romantic relationship with anyone before, and especially not with Ezra.

So, what had changed? The previous night was so much easier for her to understand. It was simply being drugged that caused her to accept any advance Ezra made toward her. That made sense, but what about this most recent night? She'd never had to rely on being next to someone in order to feel comfortable enough to fall asleep before. And if she truly didn't want anything past friendship, she was going to have to get back to sleeping on her own.

But that brought the question right back to the forefront. Did she want something more? Ketsu had been teasing her relentlessly about it, and before the last couple of days, it'd been easy to deny. But now easy wasn't the correct word to describe it. Now, she didn't know for sure what she wanted. All she did know was that it felt nice sleeping next to him.

As if to confirm that feeling, Ezra suddenly took his arm that was under her neck and wrapped the lower half of it around her. He then ended the movement with a small sound that Sabine believed sounded like contentment. She also grew more content by the slight position change as well, and she replicated the content moan. It really did feel nice in their current positions.

But they had a mission to complete, and it was past time to start the day. Going for an early morning run would have to be like the time the Rebels were stationed on Garel. Until she had scoped out the area, she wouldn't be able to partake, which she hadn't done yet for obvious reasons.

For that morning, she'd have to make do with the small apartment, and then after the workday was done, perhaps she could take a look around to determine a safe path. The first step though was getting out of bed, which meant finding her way out of Ezra's protective hold.

She tried sliding toward her side of the bed, hoping that his draped arm would fall to the side as she gently added pressure against it. Ezra, however, didn't seem to want to comply, grumbling indecipherable words before turning his head toward her, his lips just a breath away from her forehead.

Sabine tried once more to slide free but again was met with resistance as Ezra tightened his hold on her. Unless she wanted to wake him up, she was effectively trapped in his grip. Under normal circumstances, she would've immediately woken him up, but after he'd taken care of her virtually the entire time they'd been on the planet, she couldn't bring herself to do such a thing. Still, he wasn't giving her much choice if she wanted to get any kind of a workout in. She'd already missed one day of physical training, and even more, if she discounted the miniscule amount of physical therapy she was allowed to do during her recovery.

She needed to work out so that she wouldn't lose her physical edge over any potential combatants. And that meant Ezra was just going to have to wake up. So, she gave him a soft nudge that only resulted in him grunting. "Ezra," she said softly as she nudged him once again.

"Hmm," was his only response before going right back to sleep.

With his not waking up, Sabine tried to think back to the same predicament she'd been in just one day ago. What had she done that morning to wake Ezra up? She fought through the foggy memories as even the morning was still a bit fuzzy for her, but slowly it came to her. She'd been investigating what she was lying on with her hands because of the blasted bright morning light being so brutal for her throbbing head. She recalled sliding her hand in exploration over Ezra's muscled upper body until her fingers lightly trailed up his side, tickling him. She'd tickled Ezra!

Now she knew how to rouse him, and if she were willing to admit it, tickling Ezra awake would be enjoyable for her as well. So, she took her free hand from his chest and began gently dragging it up and down his side. He didn't move much at first, but she could see the telltale signs that her plan was working as he began to flinch a bit.

Sabine then pressed her fingers against him a tad more forcefully and that got the response she was looking for. Ezra moved to block her from what she was doing just as he had the previous morning, causing her to smile at his duplicated response. "You're not letting me get up," she said.

"Sorry," Ezra grumbled, releasing his hold on her.

After gaining her freedom, Sabine rolled to her side of the bed and stood up before stretching her arms over her head. Ezra happened a glance over to her in time to see her nightshirt lift up just enough to reveal a bit of her midriff, which he enjoyed before his eyes drifted to the chrono for the time.

"Why are you up so early?" He drowsily complained as he too began to get out of bed.

"You can go back to sleep," she said. "I just want to get a little workout in before we have to head into the IA facility."

"No," Ezra responded in the middle of his own stretching as he stood from the bed. "I'm up. So, I might as well get moving too. I'm just not used to waking up before daylight."

"Well, if you're going to be living in the same space as me, you'll have to get used to that." Sabine teased as she watched Ezra stagger toward the kitchen.

"Should I get used to being woken up with you in my arms and tickling me each morning too?" Ezra asked, teasing Sabine.

It seemed to work too, as her cheeks turned a bright shade of red and her mouth dropped open. Then, the next thing he knew, Ezra had a pillow being flung at his head. "Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod?" She scoffed.

"What was that?" Ezra asked, wondering what his Mandalorian friend had just said.

"Just, go get your caf," was her only response, verbalizing her theory on why the young Jedi was heading to the kitchen area.

Sure enough, Ezra went straight for the caf and readied two cups while Sabine went to the fresher with some workout clothes to change into. When she returned, Ezra was waiting for her, a cup held out for her as he made his way to change as well.

Sabine sipped on the hot, delicious drink as she waited for Ezra to finish changing but almost spit out her caf once he reemerged a moment later wearing only shorts. He did have another cloth in his hand that she assumed was his shirt, but she certainly wasn't prepared for his current state of dress. How he looked had Sabine fighting to keep from licking her lips.

Her hands had been accurate the previous morning when she used them to feel her way around. Ezra had certainly done some growing since they'd first met. The muscle definition was almost drool-worthy. "So, that's what you're wearing?" She managed to ask before things got too awkward.

"Yeah," he responded. "That is unless you wanted to leave the apartment to work out."

"Normally I'd go for a run," Sabine said. "But without doing any real recon of the area, that's not a good idea."

"Actually, I did that before I went looking for you the other night," Ezra responded, slipping the shirt over his head. "Come on, I'll show you the way."

Sabine was reluctant at first, but she did want to go on a run. It was always relaxing for her and it was her favorite way to start a day off. So, she followed Ezra outside the apartment building and they headed west. She followed closely behind Ezra as he maintained what she considered was a comfortable pace for a few city blocks.

Once the apartment building was completely out of sight, Ezra made a left and they ran in that direction for another fifteen minutes. As they continued in that direction, Sabine took notice of how Ezra didn't really seem to be exerting himself too much up to that point. So, she decided to test the waters a bit with him. "How much farther until we have to turn back?"

"Two more blocks until we need to head left again or just turn around," was Ezra's answer before Sabine picked up the pace and passed him.

"I'll see you back at the apartment then," she said as she left him in her wake.

Those remaining two blocks didn't take much time to reach, and when Sabine stopped to pivot and turn back the way she came, she half expected Ezra to be a lot farther behind than he was. But by her calculation, Ezra was only about 10 paces behind her, and he still didn't seem to be struggling with the new pace. So, she decided to crank it up another notch, pushing herself a little harder.

Every so often, Sabine would spare a glance behind her, expecting Ezra to have fallen behind, but it was never the case. He was allowing her to stay in the lead, but she was beginning to believe that he could have retaken the lead if he chose to do so at any time. He just didn't seem to be getting tired.

She turned the corner, back to the main street that would lead them back to the apartment, and took off, and when there was only another couple of blocks remaining, Sabine went into a full sprint. She gave everything that she had, but she could've sworn she could still hear the sound of his shoes slapping against the ground not too far behind her. The worst part for her was that those sounds were only getting louder.

"On your left!" Ezra suddenly called out just as he moved next to her with only a single building remaining before they'd be back at the apartment.

He nearly passed her, but she did manage to reach the doorway to the apartment building with almost a half-step lead. As soon as they were inside the building, Sabine bent over, her hands on her knees. She sucked in a few deep breaths to calm her heart rate down as Ezra stood there before her. She could see that she'd given him a run for his money, but he hadn't struggled with keeping up.

"I guess that Jedi training has paid off," she joked between panting breaths.

"I suppose so," Ezra said with a chuckle before turning a bit more serious. "Is there anything else you wanted to get in before starting our office jobs?"

Sabine's mind drifted off to a certain place when she looked over at Ezra, something about sharing the fresher as they got ready for the day and she physically had to shake her head to rid herself of such lewd thoughts. Where had that notion come from? Why had she just thought about partaking in something more carnal with Ezra?

"No," she finally answered. "I'm going to go get ready for work. We have a job to do, and I can just finish my workout this evening."

* * *

Ezra wiped the sweat from his brow as he closed in on the end of his shift. It'd been a busy day with nothing to show for the Rebellion. He'd spent all day helping to build E-11 blasters for the Empire and nothing else. Throughout the day, Ezra did get introduced to a couple of co-workers, and he waited until half the day was complete before really asking anything.

He used the guise of boredom in building only one type of blasters to open the door, but the answers he got back didn't say anything about a new weapon on the production line. The co-workers informed him of a few weapons they'd recently been putting together, but pretty much all of them were standard issue models. Ezra could only hope that the second half of the day was better or that Sabine had better luck.

They met up for lunch and shared their notes, and Ezra discovered that Sabine had been stuck with access credentials being built for her. She'd also been forced to take more tests to confirm her overall firearms knowledge, which would give the management team a better idea of what areas of the R and D department she should be privy to. She felt that she'd done well, and hoped they would open her access up for the afternoon.

Before they went their separate ways, Sabine did tell Ezra that since he knew what weapon type he'd be working on, that she would go ahead and visit the market after work before she met back up with him at the apartment. Ezra was somewhat reluctant to have her go there because of Gavyn, but Sabine wouldn't hear any of it. And Ezra knew not to push her too much about it. He'd gotten back into her good graces and didn't want to jeopardize that if he could help it.

The last half of Sabine's day wasn't as eventful as she'd hoped for either. While most of her testing was completed within the first half of the day, the second half felt a lot more like she was being given a tour than working. Like Ezra, she'd gotten to meet some people, but didn't really learn anything useful from them.

The people she'd met were friendly, a couple even offering to go out for drinks after work. Sabine politely declined the offer, keeping to her personal vow of abstaining from alcohol. That said, she did accept a separate invite for dinner in place of drinks, thinking that it would be a good place to introduce Ezra to them. Plus, if they were lucky, then perhaps their new acquaintances would partake in a few drinks and maybe loosen their lips a bit.

But that would come later as she reached the marketplace. As Ezra had described, it wasn't difficult to locate the booth where the Rebels were stationed. She also confirmed Ezra's concern, as Gavyn was there with another Rebel from the extraction team, and that person was Wini.

Both Gavyn and Wini seemed to be getting along well as Sabine approached. They were carrying on with casual conversation that didn't end until one of them finally spotted Sabine coming up to them. Unlike when Ezra arrived the day before, there wasn't a line for Sabine to wait in. Instead, she was able to march right up to them.

"How can we help you?" Wini asked after abruptly pausing in the conversation between herself and Gavyn. "The Dorian Passion Fruit is in season."

"My fiancé grabbed one yesterday," Sabine said as she perused the rest of the supplies. She perused what was available, and was pleasantly surprised with what Ezra had chosen for last night's dinner. "Maybe if you still have them tomorrow, we might need to buy another one."

"Well then," Gavyn said as he came around to the customer side of the booth. "If you let one of us know what you're be looking for, we can help you to find what you want."

With that said, Gavyn held out his hand to shake. "My name is Utri, and this is Denri." He said as Sabine took his hand. "I'll be back in a moment, but Denri here can help you on your way."

Sabine stood there silently as Gavyn walked away. She'd felt him passing her a note with the handshake, but couldn't do anything about it at that moment. So, she instead gathered up enough food to get through the next day and paid Wini before making her leave. Considering what Gavyn had determined from the previous day with Ezra, she half expected Wini to be cold or combative, but she seemed to be fine. That made Sabine think that perhaps Gavyn had kept his mouth shut. She certainly hoped so, because dealing with Gavyn was going to be awkward enough.

Sabine waited until she was a safe distance away before opening Gavyn's note. It was short and to the point, simply requesting a second meeting with him at a different location, and asking that she come alone. She crushed the note in her hand, just knowing that it would have to do with her major gaffe from the first night. She almost didn't want to go to his impromptu meeting because of that, but another part of her that wanted to confront the issue head-on and just be done with it.

Whatever problems Gavyn had with what happened or didn't happen, she knew she needed to straighten it out with her friend. He might not like what she had to say, but he would know where they stood at the very least.

To get ready for this second meeting, Sabine first went back to the apartment to drop off all of the supplies she'd purchased and then headed back out. Fortunately, Ezra wasn't at the apartment when she arrived, which made it easier to leave by not adding to what was already a stressful situation.

Sabine headed straight over to the coordinates Gavyn provided and quickly discovered that it was another apartment. She didn't even have to knock before Gavyn opened the door for her and gesturing for her to enter as he turned back into the room.

The first thing Sabine noticed was that the apartment was quite a bit larger than the one she and Ezra had to share, riling her a tad at first. But as she gave it some more thought, their little apartment had its positive aspects as well, and especially with the rocky way this mission had started. She didn't want to dwell on the size of the rooms though. Sabine needed to get this meeting started so that she could meet up with her new co-workers.

"What's going on, Gavyn?" She asked.

Gavyn meanwhile, had been pacing up to that point. While he had requested this meeting, he still wasn't certain of how best to approach the subject that'd been eating away at him, but how he did begin the conversation could've gone better than his blurting out, "What did he do to you?"

"Who?" was Sabine's quick reply, which only added to Gavyn's frustrated state of mind.

"Ezra!" He nearly shouted, his pacing about the room starting up again.

"What are you talking about?" Sabine asked, her level of frustration beginning to match his.

Gavyn then turned and looked her directly in the eyes. "I thought you said that you and Ezra were just friends," Gavyn said. "That there was nothing between the two of you, but then after a single night with him, he shows up at the initial meet and you've marked him."

"You don't know what actually happened, Gavyn," Sabine said, but Gavyn wasn't done yet.

"He tried to hide it after I spotted it, but the way he did it said anything but wanting to hide what happened," Gavyn said. "I was like a badge of honor on display for him."

"Gavyn, that's….wait," Sabine started to argue, but then Gavyn's words registered. "badge of honor? What do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, Sabine," Gavyn said in disbelief. "Everyone knows that Ezra still has a thing for you. Even Wini does despite how she's been trying to get him to move on so she can be with him. You can't honestly expect me to believe that you can't see it."

"That's enough!" Sabine yelled, fed up with what she was hearing. "You want to know what happened? I was drugged by some sleemo, and Ezra watched over me while I was under the influence."

"You were drugged?" Gavyn parroted.

"Yes," Sabine confirmed. "Ezra didn't do anything but try to keep me at bay until the drug ran its course. So, regardless of what you think went on, nothing…..happened. Okay?"

Gavyn stood there silently for a moment, and Sabine thought that might be the end of it until Gavyn began to chuckle derisively. "And you believe him?" Gavyn asked. "I didn't think you were the gullible type, Sabine."

Sabine was red hot angry at that point and wasn't thinking when she stepped forward and swept Gavyn's legs out from under him, sending him onto his rear before she pounced on top of him with a fist cocked back and ready to explode into his face. "You're wrong," she growled.

"Right," Gavyn said, not backing down from his stance. "The almighty Jedi is above all things and can do no wrong. News flash, Sabine. No one is perfect. Not even a Jedi, and especially not a teenage one. He has to go through the same emotions and urges as anyone else, and being with you is what Ezra has always wanted. There's no way he passed up that opportunity."

"Maybe I am gullible then," Sabine said, getting up off of Gavyn and heading toward the door. "I was gullible enough to believe that you wanted to be a good friend to me."

"I'm not going to apologize for being attracted to you," Gavyn responded as he climbed back to his feet and dusted himself off. "We had something in common, and I thought that if that common interest could help grow a friendship between us, then maybe it could continue to grow into something more. Something wonderful and as beautiful as I think you are. What I can't wrap my head around though is why anyone would have such a problem with seeing where something might be able to go. What are you afraid of?"

Sabine had stopped upon Gavyn making his case. He was emotionally invested in what he was saying, and it did strike a chord within her, although from the outside almost no one would've seen any indication. But Gavyn seemed to realize it, and approached her, continuing.

"I know we can be good friends, Sabine," he said, stepping cautiously ever closer to her. "But I think we could just as easily be even more special if you would just give us a chance."

At that, Gavyn thought he saw some cracks beginning to spread in Sabine's seemingly impregnable wall, and he decided to give one more push. "I don't care what Ezra did or didn't do. All I care about is having a chance to see where things could go with you and me. If I'm wrong, then I know I would have a good friend, but if I'm right, then I think the sky's the limit."

Sabine had been frozen by Gavyn's words. He'd confirmed what Ketsu had been teasing her about for weeks, but worse yet, he'd also raised a question that had been lingering in the back of Sabine's mind. Was she afraid of letting someone get closer than friendship? She wasn't sure at that moment but didn't have time to think about it as she then noticed just how close to her Gavyn had come.

To make things worse, he was still moving closer as well and turning his head slightly. Sabine knew what he was about to do, and she was beginning to panic. She wasn't ready for this, and especially not after what she'd just been through over the last couple of days. She needed time to work through everything, and Gavyn needed to respect that.

"No." She managed to say right before his lips made contact with hers.

Gavyn's eyes snapped open at her word. He was instantly furious, thinking that Sabine was choosing Ezra over him. It wasn't right. The little wannabe Jedi Loth rat hadn't even been a good friend to Sabine in the time that he'd been around her. Why would she be interested in Ezra? Why couldn't she just give him a chance? "I guess you've made your choice then," He nearly growled at her before turning away from her. "I hope he finally starts treating you the way that you deserve to be treated instead of the way he's actually been treating you."

Sabine's initial reaction was to send back a fiery retort, but she knew that things between Gavyn, Ezra, and herself were messy enough as it was. It felt like things were virtually a powder keg and the slightest incorrect move would set it off. So, she left it alone for the time being and walked out of the apartment door.

* * *

Throughout the short time they'd been in their apartment before heading out for dinner with her co-workers, Ezra couldn't help but notice how Sabine had been strangely silent. Even for her, and she didn't have her own personal quarters to hide away in, paint, or whatever else she would've done on the Ghost when she wasn't in the mood to talk. So, it was harder for Ezra to just let her be with her mood.

It didn't take long before the silence got to Ezra and he did attempt to get her to open up, but Sabine wouldn't give anything more away than some clipped answers which didn't actually answer anything. In fact, most of her responses were either "nothing" or "drop it", and before he knew it, they had left the apartment and were already approaching the restaurant. Worse yet, they hadn't even discussed the plan of action for the evening.

"So, are you going to tell me how you want to play this out before we walk in here?" He asked, trying to get them both focused on the upcoming task.

Sabine still didn't respond at first as her mind was stuck racing about her earlier meeting with Gavyn, and she wouldn't have even registered Ezra's question at all if he hadn't placed a hand on one of her shoulders to help jolt her back to the moment.

"If you're not feeling up to this Sabine, maybe we should cancel dinner tonight?" He suggested. "We can always tell your new friends that I wasn't feeling well as an excuse."

"No, it's alright. I'm fine," she replied.

"No, you're not," Ezra said, not buying it for an instant. "I can tell that you're upset about something."

What Ezra said caused Sabine to do a double-take. "I said I'm fine, Ezra." She stated much more firmly and a tad irritably. Talking about what was bothering her was completely off the table, and not with Ezra. Things were already awkward enough and she knew it would only get worse if she shared what occurred with Gavyn.

"Then if you won't talk to me about what's bothering you, at least let me know how you want me to play this." Ezra pointed out. "I don't want to contradict something you might've already told them today, and I need to know what to say if they ask about us as a couple. "

"You're right," Sabine responded, knowing that he'd made a good point. "For our cover story, I didn't really give them too much information about you or us, so it's all fair game. We already know the basic cover story that was set up for us, but I've found that the best cover stories are the ones where you don't try to play a role. We're not actors, so just follow my lead and just try to be yourself as much as you can without blowing our cover."

"Alright," Ezra said as he opened the door for her. "Sounds easy enough."

The two Rebels gave a glance about the restaurant as soon as they were inside. Toward the center was a nice sized bar area along with a dance floor, and then there was a large seating area that surrounded both. Sabine had been given the name for the reservation before she left work, and provided it to the hostess, who took them to the reserved table where Sabine's new co-workers were already seated.

Once they were within eyesight of the table, a couple of Sabine's co-workers noticed them approaching and stood to greet them. The first thing Ezra noticed was that it wasn't a large group, with Sabine and Ezra causing the total reach double figures. They'd left a pair of seats together for them to sit next to one another, which would certainly make things a bit easier for Sabine.

For Sabine, the most difficult part of any mission was dealing with the people whenever blasters weren't involved. Casual conversation had never really her strong suit, and having to convince people that she was engaged to Ezra would only add to that challenge. And of course, everyone surely had questions about her soon to be spouse.

"So, this is the lucky guy?" One of them questioned her after they took their seats.

Ezra smiled at what he heard. "Yeah," he agreed. "I'm the lucky one."

Sabine couldn't stop herself from reacting with a well-placed elbow into Ezra's side, earning a chuckle around the table. "This is Dev," She said to the group before beginning to point to her co-workers as she continued. "Dev, this is Cen, and to his left is Ruto. On the other side Tyla and Hela."

"And this is my wife, Mille." Cen added. "Across from Ruto is his girlfriend, Ailyn. Over there is Tyla's boyfriend Crix, and finally, Hela's husband Porro."

"Nice to meet all of you," Ezra said to the group as he focused on tying the names to faces.

"Ria tells us that you're on the conveyor line at IA," Tyla said, leaning a bit farther onto the table, displaying some interest.

"Yeah," Ezra confirmed. "They had me working on a pretty decent sized order of E-11 blasters. It's kind of monotonous, but it's an easy paycheck."

"That's about all it is," Ruto said. "I don't know how anyone can stand being there for more than a few days without losing their minds. It's got to be mind-numbingly boring to do the same thing over and over."

"It is," Ezra agreed before looking over at his partner with a mischievous smile on his face. "But it does have its perks."

It took everything in Sabine to keep from rolling her eyes. Ezra didn't even try to hide his implication, and the others at the table would've had to be blind and deaf not to pick up on it. However, their response to his corny attempt at being romantic was much more positive than she anticipated, and it was especially true of the unmarried females in the group.

Ailyn playfully smacked Ruto on the shoulder, beginning to give him a hard time about why he wasn't as sweet as Ezra. While Tyla seemed to be a tad jealous by her reaction, although she didn't verbalize anything. Their boyfriends both reacted the way Sabine wanted to, but only until they noticed Tyla's and Ailyn's reactions.

The married couples, however, were looking directly at Sabine, and that concerned her a bit. She assumed they were expecting a bit more of a reaction from her because of what little they knew about the faux relationship. She'd went along with the script, telling everyone that she and Ezra were engaged to be married, but still were a relatively new couple. Normal new couples were more apt to displaying affection, but that just wasn't how Sabine was.

Ezra was flourishing in his fiancé role, and Sabine couldn't help but take notice of that too. His attempts at being charming were acceptable for the situation and it didn't seem to be forced or unnatural for him like it was quickly becoming for her. Everyone else at the table seemed to be eating it up too, which meant she had to put up with his "romantic" antics. Still, she couldn't help herself from looking at him a little differently too, adding yet another reason why he was the correct choice to be on this mission with her.

With Ezra, Sabine was already indoctrinated into his one-liners, but he was also harmless for her. She'd grown to trust him over the years and knew that if someone else had been selected, she wouldn't have been able to keep from giving away that the relationship wasn't real. Her eyes definitely would've rolled if anyone put on the type of display that Ezra was. Plus, Ezra's knowledge from being around her was helpful too. He hadn't tried to force any physical display of affection from her because he knew she wasn't comfortable with it.

And then Sabine took her eyes off of Ezra, only to notice everyone looking at her again. They all had the same looks on their faces too. It was a sort of knowing smile that she'd seen before but never in her direction before. Except from Ketsu. Then, she realized that she had an honest smile on her face as well. She knew what they were thinking, and in this instance, she wouldn't be able to argue against it. After all, she was supposed to be in love with Ezra, or rather Dev.

Thanks to Ezra, his apparent charm, and his overall people skills, the rest of the night went by rather smoothly. The food was delicious and the company was enjoyable. Even the conversation entertaining as they covered a variety of topics. She was thankful that her co-workers didn't pry for details about their relationship, as Ezra's performance seemed to quell the desire for that.

The only thing that didn't go extremely well was how no one wanted to talk shop as it were. But before they knew it, the bill was paid and they were all saying goodbye before going their separate ways. From that point, it was a nice, quiet walk back to the apartment, but that was only until she realized that she'd been holding his hand ever since they left the restaurant and she still was. It wasn't a long walk back to the apartment, but they'd definitely been out of sight for quite some time, meaning the pretense for holding hands had passed long ago.

Abruptly, she dropped his hand and things began to feel awkward again. What was coming over her? Ezra was her friend, and as much as she wanted to forget that it happened, her meeting with Gavyn and his words were still rolling around in her mind. Ezra had played the part of loving fiancé so well, and he also knew and respected where the lines with Sabine were not to be crossed.

Gavyn thought that something happened, and for the first time, she could see why someone like him or Ketsu, or even her temporary co-workers would think that way. But what staggered her the most, was that now she could see it too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mando translation to the best of my knowledge - Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod? = Are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?
> 
> Next up: The mission's end arrives abruptly, but why and did Sabine and Ezra get the intel they were tasked to?


	13. Chapter 13: Cross the Finish Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 13: Cross the Finish Line
> 
> Ezra and Sabine move through their cover in search of the weapon that had been used against the Rebellion and look to return home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, my apologies for taking quite a bit of time getting this chapter out, but it really was fighting all the way. I just never could get the feeling that it all flowed to where it basically wrote itself. I wanted to get to the conclusion of this mission though by the time I ended this chapter. We've got a long way to go in order to get to the conclusion, but it was definitely time for this mission to end, and so here it is. Three complete re-writes later.

Ezra ducked, dodging a blaster bolt that instead sailed just over his head and harmlessly into a wall. "Really wish I had my lightsaber right about now," he complained as Sabine and he sprinted around a street corner. "And don't you think the explosion was a bit over the top?"

"I had to make sure the weapons were all destroyed," Sabine fired back. "And quit complaining! We're almost there!"

The two Rebels continued on their erratic path, hoping they could evade capture for just a bit longer. Sabine knew that they'd taken a big risk in continuing with their mission, but at the time she'd felt that the risk was worth it. However, she also knew that they couldn't keep running forever, and things were already becoming dire as she watched Ezra stumbling a bit as he tried to keep up with her. She just hoped the extraction portion of the plan would go more smoothly than the rest of this day had turned out.

The fates, however, seemed to be against them. After they made two more turns, they reached the extraction rendezvous point, but there was no extraction team in sight. "Did we make a wrong turn?" Ezra asked as he leaned against the closest wall. "Where are they?"

"No. They should be here," Sabine answered as she reached for her communicator and opened a channel. "This is Spectre five. We're at the extraction point. Where is our pick up?"

"We were forced to move," Came the reply from Gavyn. "That explosion at IA created some unwanted attention, and the Empire decided to start locking down the spaceports as a result of it."

"So, what are we supposed to do?" Sabine asked as she grabbed Ezra's hand and dragged him with her down another alley to keep them moving.

"Find a spot to hole up," Gavyn instructed. "We were able to move the ship before the Empire locked it up, and we have an idea of where to take the ship that won't get locked up. We did leave an agent behind with a speeder. Once you're in a secure location, send us the coordinates, and they'll pick you up and bring you to us."

"Understood," Sabine grumbled. "Spectre five out."

"So, we're still on our own," Ezra recounted. "Any ideas on where to go?"

"No time to worry about that now," Sabine said before handing him one of her blasters. "Take this and let's keep moving. We don't want to get spotted again if we can help it."

Ezra went to follow after her, but nearly fell forward as he lost his balance yet again. His head was throbbing painfully at that point, and he had to fight the urge to vomit as Sabine reached out to help him.

"I've gotcha," she said while slipping one of his arms over her shoulder. Things were starting to look bleak, and she needed to find somewhere safe to rest quickly. Ezra simply wouldn't be able to go much longer in his condition.

* * *

_Two days prior_

_Sabine woke up filled with frustration. She'd been trying to sleep by herself when they returned from dinner the night before, but nightmares had kept her from being able to sleep much at all. She tossed and turned most of the time, punched her pillow in frustration, and groaned at her plight until Ezra was awakened by it._

_At first, she politely declined Ezra's offer to join her, but when she did finally manage to fall back asleep, it was once again flooded with a mixture of nightmares. Some were of not being able to move as a stranger had their way with her while others were similar but with faces of people she knew, and the last one was with Ezra. That turned out to be the last straw for her as Sabine still believed wholeheartedly that Ezra would never do such a thing to her, and she couldn't believe her mind would even concoct such a notion, be it a dream or otherwise. Ezra was her friend and he'd been there for her in her time of absolute need. Regardless of what others such as Gavyn might've thought, she just knew that Ezra would do the right thing regardless of his own desires._

_And with that, she moved over to the couch to lay on the human pillow that was Ezra, almost to prove to herself that she was right about him as much as so she could get some actual sleep. Cuddling with him quickly allowed her to find sleep and the nightmares stayed away just as she'd hoped. However, by morning she was met with the inescapable fact that she hadn't been able to sleep on her own and that just wasn't going to do. She was a Mandalorian for crying out loud and she would not require someone else's assistance just to sleep through a night._

_Her failure from that night left Sabine frustrated throughout the next day, and enough so that she had Ezra deliver the day's report on his own. Besides, just like with the other reports up to that point, they had yet to identify the weapon in question, and that only added to her frustrated state. The only addition to the report was that Sabine had begun the process of digging into some prototype weaponry. Still, nothing she'd gotten to work on yet was in the trial status or even close. She also believed that she was still being tested, but didn't mind it too much. She was confident it only revealed that she knew what she was talking about._

_The "prototype" designs she'd been shown seemed like good ideas at first glance, but there always seemed to be a glaring issue to be found. She pointed out why each design she looked over would ultimately fail any field test, and then was assigned access to another design. The first few she dug into, the flaws were obvious, but after that, she actually had to pay attention to the finer details to discover why a failure would occur._

_But the next day she ended up reviewing a weapon design that looked like it was well on its way to the building phase. Upon coming to that conclusion, she was then informed that she'd get to work on some of the more ready to test weapons. So, immediately after work, she delivered the updated file herself. She had to make it clear that she wasn't about to deal with Gavyn or his accusations, causing him to move over to "help" with another customer. He was still visibly upset but Sabine just didn't need anything more on her plate until after the mission._

_Besides, Wini was also there, and that made the drop off much easier because she was acting normally. Sabine's best guess was that Wini either didn't know what was going on or perhaps that she was more like Sabine, keeping things strictly professional when it was necessary. The girls were able to keep the short conversation casual, allowing Sabine to make the drop before going on her way back toward the apartment._

_That, however, was when things seemed to take a turn. Ezra hadn't been able to leave the factory as early as Sabine did, which was why they didn't travel to the drop point together. He'd told her that he'd meet Sabine back at the apartment, and was making his way back to the apartment when a feeling ran through him. It was a strong feeling that nearly caused him to stop in his tracks. It wasn't unfamiliar to him, and it was telling him that he was being watched. He managed to keep walking ahead, not wanting to give anything away, and went up to the next nearby vendor booth to get a better look around without looking like he was searching for who's eyes were on him._

_He didn't see anyone right away, but the feeling continued to linger and questions began to cross his mind. Who was watching him? Why were they watching him? Had his cover somehow been blown? Glancing around still didn't reveal any familiar faces, and it also thankfully didn't reveal any bucketheads or Imperial officers. But that feeling was still hitting him hard. He wanted to contact Sabine but knew doing so might signal to the person watching him that he was onto them, and Ezra didn't want to let whoever was watching him escape._

_So, after spending what felt like an acceptable amount of time at that vendor's booth, Ezra casually trekked around town, making certain that he didn't reveal where he was actually heading, but each time he made a stop to view something for sale or turned down a different road, he was still met with that same feeling. Eventually, though, Ezra ran out of real estate that he was familiar with. He couldn't continue one without putting himself at risk, but that left him with either giving away that he knew he was being watched or heading into the apartment._

_Either way, it was a risk, and Ezra chose the less risky of his options by reluctantly walking into the apartment building. However, he wasn't about to go straight to their apartment either, and instead found a spot off to the side of the lobby where he could see the entrance and not be truly visible. Then, he sat and waited as random person after random person entered or exited the building. No one seemed to be looking for him, but the feeling he'd been experiencing was still just as strong as when he first felt it._

_Not to be deterred, Ezra tried reaching out through the Force for anything or anyone out of place, but just as he'd experienced visually, he couldn't find anything. Everyone just seemed to be going about their business as usual, and Ezra eventually began to wonder if he might just be feeling paranoid. Still, he didn't move away from the lobby for another fifteen minutes, which was when he realized that he was the one attracting attention. The longer he stayed there, the more that people began to stare. Some were even whispering about what he was doing, and he knew that he couldn't stay there any longer._

_Ezra then made his way over to the elevators, and it wasn't until the doors closed that the feeling finally began to subside. No one knew where he and Sabine had been staying but he was still uneasy up until he reached their apartment. When he was safely inside, he finally realized just how high his adrenaline level had been, and now safely inside, just how much energy it sapped from him. He breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed onto the couch, sprawling out across it, but then he also realized that his roommate wasn't there yet. That brought a jolt of energy back to him in the form of immediate concern._

_Ezra reached for his communicator and opened a channel to call out to his friend. "Ria, come in."_

_A few tedious seconds passed with him holding his breath until the comm channel eventually pinged open. "I'm here Dev," she said. "What's up?"_

_"_ _How far are you from home?"_

_"_ _Not far, why?"_

_"_ _You know those weird feelings you sometimes get when you think you're being watched?"_

_"_ _Yeah.."_

_"_ _Well, that happened to me all the way back from the market."_

_"_ _Did you see anyone?"_

_"_ _No, but I still thought you should know about it."_

_"_ _I'll keep an eye out for anything suspicious," Sabine said before ending the call._

_Ezra huffed as he glanced over to the chrono for the time. It was barely early evening and he already wanted to call it a night, but he had this nervous energy that likely wouldn't go away until Sabine safely returned. Even though according to her, that would only be a few minutes away, it felt like hours before she finally opened the door._

_"_ _I didn't see anything," she announced as she walked into the apartment. "But that doesn't mean that you're wrong."_

_"_ _Do you think we might've been burned?" Ezra asked._

_Sabine hummed as she considered the possibility. "I don't think so, but we still should be cautious. Just to be safe, I think we should stay in tonight and make sure we keep our eyes open tomorrow. If you see anything out of place, then we'll scrub the mission and call the extraction team in to pick us up."_

_"_ _Okay," Ezra responded, agreeing with Sabine's opinion of what to do. Besides, a night in with Sabine would never be something he'd willingly turn down._

_Dinner that night was as enjoyable as Ezra had hoped it would be. It also allowed him the opportunity to think about the two of them and how Sabine and he just seemed to mesh together so effortlessly in their assigned roles. He also absolutely loved that Sabine seemed to let her guard down around him over the last few days. She even chose to sit next to him on the couch while they watched a couple of programs on the holo. But all too soon, the time for bed came upon them._

_Ezra once again offered to share the bed with Sabine, and while it was tempting, Sabine stuck to her decision to sleep on her own. So, she politely declined before turning to her bed, thinking it would be best for the both of them, but If she would have kept her eyes on Ezra, she'd have seen the small display of hurt on his face before he regained control of his emotions. But by the time Sabine did turn back around to wish him a good night, he was successfully hiding any disappointment._

_Falling asleep was still a struggle for Sabine at first, but she leaned on her Mandalorian upbringing to push through. However, despite her efforts, it still wasn't a dreamless sleep. She woke up in the middle of the night after yet another nightmare. It caused her to spare a glance over to Ezra, remembering his kind offer, but that was as far as she allowed it to go. She was going to sleep on her own regardless of any struggle she'd have to go through to do it._

_That morning, Sabine felt a little pride in herself at having held firm to her decision Then it was on to the next day, which seemed to go smoothly, and didn't seem to bring about anything indicating that their cover had been blown. Plus, working at the weapons factory on that day turned out to be the lucky charm for Sabine. With Ezra once again stuck on nothing other than standard Imperial blasters, Sabine's different level of cover and access finally paid dividends._

_Cen assigned Sabine to work with Ruto and Hela on a couple of different prototypes. Sabine excitedly worked through the specs of each of the weapons, but confirmed that neither of them were the weapons she'd been looking for. But then, in the afternoon, she moved onto a fifth prototype that Tyla had been working on. She rifled through the weapon specifics, and found out its design was laid out as a double-pronged weapon that could act as a taser when in close combat, but also had long-range blast capability, which was what grabbed Sabine's attention._

_This particular blaster rifle was designed to gobble up large amounts of blaster gas that would allow the weapon to disintegrate its target. She was almost certain that this was the weapon that had been used on the Rebels before. From there, she immediately dove into who designed it, the location of where the designs were, and how many blasters had been already been produced. Unfortunately, Sabine wasn't able to determine the total number, but she figured that perhaps Ezra's access to the production line might provide that information._

_That evening, Sabine decided to go to the market with Ezra. She found it surprising that a part of her actually wanted to show Gavyn that nothing was going on between herself and Ezra, if only to ease the tensions between them, but Gavyn was once again a no show. Wini also wasn't her normal, chipper self like she'd been the last time they dropped off a mission report either. She barely paid Sabine any mind at all aside from some dirty looks, and wasn't nearly as friendly toward Ezra. Her attitude was noticeable enough that it made Sabine wonder if Gavyn might've said something, but she hoped not because nothing happened._

_Because of that tension, Sabine wanted the mission to end sooner than later. She knew that Ezra and she would be fine, but she wasn't so sure about things between Gavyn and herself or Wini and Ezra. She hoped that Wini would be open to the truth before things might become irreparable, but she was beginning to believe that she'd already reached that point with Gavyn. He'd behaved a royal ass for the majority of this mission, let his emotions get the better of him, and what he said and tried to do during his private meeting with her was inexcusable._

_Gavyn needed to accept that Sabine never had an interest in anything more than friendship, and his actions during this mission only bolstered her lack of desire for anything more. In fact, just being friends again was going to take some serious mending, otherwise, they would just have to go their separate ways._

_But that also left the last remaining person of the quartet to tend with. Sabine was going to need some serious time to consider what was actually going on between Ezra and herself. Her newly discovered feelings for him had certainly complicated things, and she hadn't forgotten about Wini laying her claim of chasing after a potential romance with Ezra. She knew Wini really liked him and wasn't sure if she wanted to get in between that. Especially not when she wasn't completely certain of what she wanted. Ezra deserved more than such uncertainty. He deserved to be with someone who was fully invested in being with him, and at the moment, she was not that person. Perhaps after the mission, she would be able to determine what she wanted._

_And speaking of the mission, Sabine had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts, that she didn't even realize they were already approaching the apartment building. She almost expected Ezra to be trying to get her attention, but he seemed to be focused elsewhere. He was looking around and being strangely quiet._

_"_ _What is it?" Sabine asked._

_"_ _I think I'm being paranoid again," Ezra answered as his eyes continued to roam around them. "I was honestly expecting to have that same feeling as yesterday and not having it now has me more concerned than I was then."_

_"_ _The feeling like you're being watched?" Sabine asked and received a confirming nod in return._

_"_ _I know it sounds strange," Ezra explained. "But I'd almost feel better if I did feel like we're being watched. At least then I'd think that whoever it is wouldn't potentially be moving onto their next step."_

_"_ _Which would be…" Sabine prompted._

_"_ _I'm not sure," Ezra said as they reached the apartment building and walked inside. "And that's what has me concerned."_

_"_ _I know what you mean," Sabine said, agreeing with Ezra's thoughts. She might not have found or seen anything to substantiate Ezra's belief that he'd been watched before, but she knew that it was better to follow your instinct and be careful rather than disregard it and be wrong. Besides, she had also come to understand that when it was a Jedi's intuition, more often than not it was dead on. She only wished that they had their armor and weapons._

_Ezra kept his guard up until they reached the floor of their apartment. He was still a bit uneasy, but when the door slid open, this became one of the times where Ezra wished his feelings had been wrong._

_"_ _So nice of you to join us," an Arkanian said with a blaster pointing at Ezra's face from inside their apartment. "Please, do come in. We have some business to discuss."_

_Ezra's initial instinct was to use his Force abilities to get out of the mess, but when four other men stepped out of other nearby rooms surrounding them with blasters at the ready, he knew there was no point. In the current situation, they'd never escape with their lives, forcing them to comply. Reluctantly, Ezra raised his hands and followed their orders._

_Sabine followed Ezra in and the rest of the goons joined them inside the apartment. Her mind was racing as she tried to think of how they could escape with their lives. She didn't know just how much trouble they were in, but she knew that it wasn't the Empire. However, that didn't help answer who these sleemo's were or what they wanted with either of them?_

_But it almost seemed as if one of them could read her mind. The Arkanian who appeared to be in charge gave her a look as he spoke up. "What's the matter beautiful? Don't you remember the joy ride your boyfriend got to enjoy at my expense?"_

_"_ _You're the one who drugged me that night!" Sabine angrily shouted as she instantly lunged forward in a murderous flash. She almost got her hands on him before a couple of goons managed to grab her by the shoulders and slammed her down into a seated position on the apartment couch. She glared up at the Arkanian, only to find that he was smiling smugly at her with the knowledge that she couldn't get to him._

_"_ _I wouldn't call it drugging you," He taunted. "More like opening your eyes to new possibilities of pleasure."_

_"_ _Pleasure for you maybe," Sabine growled back._

_"_ _You mean to tell me that your boyfriend here wasn't able to satisfy your every carnal craving that night? The Arkanian said mockingly as he gestured over to Ezra. "What a pity. Perhaps he shouldn't have interfered. Then you would have discovered what true pleasure feels like."_

_"_ _She doesn't remember a thing from that night!" Ezra angrily added as he was forcefully seated next to Sabine._

_"_ _She would've remembered if you'd let her come home with me," The Arkanian gloated as he knelt in front of them both and dragged his fingers across Sabine's jaw. "And now you'll both wish that you hadn't disappointed her with your lack of sexual prowess. Because of you, she'll never get to experience true pleasure."_

_"_ _Why in karking hell would I ever want to sleep with you?" Sabine spat in disgust._

_The Arkanian fixated his eyes on her. "Because when I taste the goods first, I decide if they get to live a pleasure-filled life with me or if they get sent to be ravaged by paying customers over and over until they're too damaged to be a profit for my associates here. Even your boyfriend's lackluster abilities would be a pleasure cruise compared to what you're in for now."_

_Ezra had heard enough at that point and leapt up after the Arkanian, but the butt of a blaster to his temple immediately ended whatever he might've attempted. It was a violent blow to the head and Ezra had been so focused on the Arkanion that he didn't even see the attack coming. As soon as the blow struck, his body went completely limp and spun around slightly due to the force behind the strike. As he crashed onto the floor, the back of his head hit a small table with a loud crack that had Sabine visibly cringing._

_Ezra's vision faded into complete darkness almost instantly, but he still fought to remain conscious even though it felt like a losing battle. He could barely struggle against them as he was unceremoniously picked him up off of the floor and deposited back onto the couch._

_Sabine tried to jump down and check on Ezra, but she was still being held firmly in place on the couch by the two goons who'd stopped her earlier. She had little doubt that Ezra suffered a concussion by the way his head lolled after he landed and the glossy, confused look in his eyes she could see once he was returned to the couch. The only question was how serious it was._

_She didn't have much time to look into how badly hurt he was, as the Arkanian suddenly stood from his kneeling position and the other men put Sabine into binders. They weren't focused on Ezra at that point, and that was when Sabine hand an idea of just how serious his concussed state was. As his head continued to loll back and forth, two men had to carry him after putting him in binders before they all left the apartment._

_As they waited for the lift to take them back down, the Arkanian focused his attention onto Ezra, lifting the young Jedi's head by the chin to look him in the eyes. "I hope you clear the cobwebs before we arrive. I want to see the look on your face when you realize that your little girlfriend here will get ravished for the rest of her days. It will be a fitting punishment for getting involved in my affairs."_

_Everyone then rode down the lift in a single group, making things a little cramped inside, but the leader was being calculating, not willing to take any chances by dividing their numbers. Sabine still knew that she couldn't allow them to reach where ever it was that they were being taken or else they were both doomed, and with Ezra's current state, it was going to be incredibly difficult. They also had blasters still pointed at Ezra and herself. She was going to need some type of diversion to give them any chance._

_As they made it out to the street, Ezra was beginning to regain his wits, but everything was still a little fuzzy. Still, he knew everything he needed to know at that moment. The same Arkanian who'd drugged Sabine was going to hurt her in ways he didn't want to fathom and that infuriated him so much that before he even realized what he was doing, his binders had snapped open and dropped to the ground, causing the group to stop and look at faulty restraints._

_"_ _I thought you had new equipment." The Arkanian huffed at his men._

_"_ _I did," one of the men responded as they bent down to pick up the restraints. He gave the binders a quick once over and then held them up to show them to the rest of the group. "I don't see anything wrong with them."_

_"_ _Then how…" the Arkanian began to say before he suddenly paused and began grasping at his throat. It felt as though someone was choking him but he couldn't find anything around his neck. He immediately started to panic and looked to his crew for assistance, only to see that they were all experiencing the same thing he was. Somehow, all of them were choking on nothing, and to make matters worse, they all slowly began to lift off the ground._

_Sabine almost couldn't believe what was happening before her very eyes. Had she not been around any Jedi, she'd have no idea what was happening to explain how their captors were suddenly floating just off their feet and gasping for air. Still, even she had to do a double at the sight before looking over to who was behind it, and what she saw there nearly sent chills up her spine. The first thing she noticed was the look on his face of pure rage. Ezra was more furious than she'd ever seen before, and she couldn't be sure, but swore his eyes didn't have that same beautiful blue that she'd never been able to duplicate before._

_"_ _You're not going to touch her!" He loudly growled as he stalked over to the Arkanian before glancing around at the rest of them. "None of you will ever touch her again. Or anyone else."_

_Sabine was almost frozen in awe as she continued to watch Ezra do things she'd never seen from him before. He'd never used the Force on so many people all at once before, or at least never successfully. She had to admit that it was impressive, but then she also noticed that bystanders were also taking notice, and whispers about wizardry or seeing a Jedi quickly became as discernable as the sleemo's desperate gasps for air._

_They were all dying by Ezra's hands and they may have deserved such a fate, but Ezra had never been one to take an unarmed person's life before and Sabine knew this. So, she moved up to him and bumped his shoulder lightly, but he didn't respond. "Ezra," she spoke up in another attempt to get his attention. "You're killing them."_

_"_ _They deserve it," he growled in response, not even turning to look at her. "They were going to kill me and do so much worse to you."_

_"_ _I know, Ezra," Sabine said. "But we didn't come here for them, and you're drawing a lot of attention. We need to get out of here before…"_

_"_ _Halt!" a Stormtrooper hollered as a group of them approached to investigate what had gotten everyone else's attention._

_"_ _He's a Jedi!" Another trooper said and they all raised their blasters. "Blast him!"_

_Knowing she had to do something drastic, Sabine shoved her shoulder hard into Ezra, forcing him to release the human traffickers just as the Stormtroopers opened fire. Ezra's actions had indeed attracted unwanted attention, and because of it, the success of their mission was compromised. From that point, escape was going to be their only objective._

_When she got back up, Sabine noticed that Ezra seemed to be really out of sorts. He was still lying on the ground from her shoulder tackling him and clutching his head. "We have to go!" Sabine yelled at him as she turned to grab him with her arms still bound._

_Ezra didn't verbally respond but did make his way back to his feet, following closely after Sabine. They ended up having to run for quite some time, but did eventually create enough distance duck into the extraction team's apartment without being seen. By the time they arrived, Sabine was panting as she'd not only been on the run, but also had to help with Ezra to ensure he didn't fall behind. It seemed like he struggled to help her out of her binders, and she hoped that they could lay low for a few minutes to catch their breath and regroup as she hacked her way into opening the extraction team's apartment door._

_"_ _I don't think the bucketheads got a good look at us," Sabine reasoned, locking the apartment door behind her. As soon as she caught her breath a little bit, she looked around and happily located the crate stowing her armor and blasters, and began to change out of her civilian attire. "And if we actually lost them, then we should still slip into the factory using my credentials, destroy the specs, find out how many weapons were built, and then blow them to hell."_

_"_ _What about the person who came up with the designs?" Ezra asked. "Can't they just rebuild the plans from memory?"_

_"_ _The extraction team will get Tyla and her boyfriend, Crix," Sabine answered. "I'll comm them before we head out."_

_"_ _Sounds good," Ezra said as he went to gently rub the back of his head, but stopped when he felt something sticky, and pulled his hand down only to see red liquid staining his fingers._

_Sabine saw it too and everything else suddenly became unimportant to her, instantly moving to investigate. "I didn't think you hit your head that hard, but I guess I should've known when you hit the table on your way down," she said, scolding herself for letting it go unnoticed for so long. "I didn't see any blood because of your dark hair."_

_Sabine grabbed Ezra by his head as she moved around behind him, and gently combed through Ezra's hair, looking for any open wounds. It didn't take long for her to find a decent sized gash around the base of his skull. Even though the bleeding had slowed, she was still quite concerned about Ezra's well-being. "Maybe you should sit back here while I go in to wipe those records." She suggested._

_"_ _Not a chance," Ezra said as he spun around to get Sabine where he could see her, and that turned out to be a mistake as it caused dizziness to overwhelm him._

_Sabine was once again quick to react, helping him stay upright as he'd lost his equilibrium. She found that she was consumed with indecision, wanting to finish the mission, but also not wanting to risk leaving Ezra alone in case he happened to take a turn for the worse. Plus, the Empire was still on their trail. She had a decision to make. Go forward with scrubbing the mission or somehow convince Ezra to stay behind until she could destroy the weapons and design specs. There was also a third option which would allow the mission to be completed and keep Ezra at her side, but that would mean changing back into her civvies and she'd already been out of her armor for far too long. Besides, there was still a great risk around just marching into the factory without her armor and weapons for protection._

_But perhaps if she found some way to camouflage herself, they could get into the factory without raising any suspicion until it was too late. She looked around the room for anything that might be suitable but found nothing of use, and she determined that she'd have to go outside to find something suitable. "You stay here, and I'll be right back," she said as she started for the door._

_"_ _I won't let you go to the factory alone Sabine," Ezra argued._

_But Sabine was ready for his response, and gently pushed him to a chair, sitting him down. "Look Ezra, you have to admit that we can't go together with you in your condition and me looking the way I do." She explained. "The Empire is already on high alert, looking for a Jedi, and if they see someone in Mandalorian armor on top of that, we probably wouldn't even make it to the front door. Not to mention, you're already hurt, and I'm not going back into a hostile area without my armor. So, the only way we can have a chance at this is if I step out long enough to find a bag and a cloak from the market. Once I have those, I can use the bag to store my helmet and cover my armor with the cloak. That will give us the best chance to complete our mission."_

_"_ _I just got a little dizzy is all, Sabine," Ezra continued to argue. "It's already passed and I feel fine now. So, let's just go and finish this, and then we can go home."_

_"_ _You've only made it this far on adrenaline, Ezra," Sabine pointed out. "And that adrenaline is going to fade away any time now, which means the concussion symptoms are going to start really affecting what you can do. We can't take that risk, so just stay here and let me find a cloak and a bag. Then I promise I'll come right back."_

_Ezra didn't like it, but he knew that Sabine would keep her word. So, he gave up trying to convince her and allowed her to leave him behind. Ezra wouldn't admit it, but his head was already hurting quite a bit. He actually was almost thankful that Sabine wasn't there as he was not only still dizzy, but also was fighting back feeling like he was about to vomit. It was coming in waves at him that were quickly becoming difficult to ward off, but fight it off he did._

_Ezra didn't even pay attention to how long Sabine was gone, but she did keep her word, returning with a cloak on and an empty bag slung over her shoulder. Not wanting to give himself away, Ezra remained seated until Sabine had put her helmet into the bag and walked over to him. She almost said something, but refrained and instead offered him a hand to help him up. Ezra didn't want to accept her help but knew better than to decline her offered help. There was no point in playing off that he was fine because she knew better already and it would just be a lie._

_From there, Sabine led Ezra out of the building and toward the factory. Along the way, she didn't struggle so much with helping Ezra keep from keeling over or losing his balance, but it troubled her at how much help she had to give him. He didn't seem to realize it, but Ezra was really leaning a lot of his weight on her the farther they went. She already had to keep an arm wrapped securely around his lower back with his arm draped over her shoulders, but it was almost getting to the point where she'd be better off carrying him. Sabine might've said something, but their close positions also helped give off the appearance that they were just a loving couple walking together._

_At one point, they even walked past a pair of stormtroopers, and Sabine couldn't be sure if he did it on purpose or not, but as they approached the bucketheads, Ezra dipped his head, resting his cheek on the top of Sabine's head. She didn't realize until they were in the clear, but she'd been holding her breath the entire time, thinking they were going to get caught. But the bucket heads didn't even give them a second glance in their direction. However, Ezra didn't lift his head back up once they were out of sight again and her concern for his wellbeing skyrocketed._

_If they hadn't been so close to Imperial Arms, she would've turned around and just forgotten about the mission, but they were practically at the entrance. It wouldn't be much longer before the mission would be over and they could go home. So, she pushed onward, entering the factory without raising any suspicion or setting off any alarms. Anyone inside who saw them would think it was just Dev and Ria, the loving couple who worked there. From that point, Sabine wasted no time getting to her designated terminal, and inserted a spike that would expedite finding all of the files she needed to delete._

_Once that was complete, they went down to the assembly line where Ezra had been working. Sabine had to scour through the build and sales records, but did eventually locate a single file regarding five of the prototype blasters in question. The file indicated where the weapons were stored inside a designated storage cabinet. She quickly found and confirmed that the blasters were there and set more than enough charges to ensure the weapons would be destroyed once they were safely away._

* * *

Sabine and Ezra ducked inside a small, unoccupied building, and she leaned them both up against a wall before sliding down into a seated position. She was nearly exhausted and Ezra was getting visibly worse after having to expend all of that energy running away from Imperials. Sabine also wondered if perhaps the concussive waves from her explosion might've had something to do with his steadily worsening condition. "Stay here," she said as she extricated herself from him. "I'm going to create a perimeter and then comm the extraction team."

Ezra didn't argue with her at all and Sabine wasn't sure if she was more happy or concerned by that fact, and gave him one last look before stepping out. From there, she darted across from the building and stood guard until she was confident they weren't likely to be spotted any time soon, and sent their coordinates for a pickup. However, when she returned to hide with Ezra, her concern spiked to the highest she could recall feeling toward him.

He was lying on the ground, curled up in a ball, and his hands were clutching the sides of his head. Sabine knelt beside him to check him over. "What's going on Ezra?" She asked. "Tell me if there's anything I can do to help you."

At first, his response just some incoherent mumbling, but his eyelids did crack open shortly after. "Sabine," he finally managed to say with noticeably slurred speech. That was also followed by a dopey grin on his face once his eyes met hers. "Did I fall asleep?"

"I don't know," Sabine answered as she focused on his pupils, noting how they were remaining dilated when she checked using her flashlight.

"Wanna share the bed again?" Ezra asked.

"I don't think we'll be going back to that bed," she replied, partially thrilled that he was trying to joke with her, all things considered, but it was still a precarious position they were in.

"I like sleeping with you more," was Ezra's next response, followed by a flinch of obvious pain in his head. "Headache is getting worse, but you smell better than Zeb."

"Don't worry, Ezra," Sabine said as she began to gently massage his scalp in an attempt to relieve some of Ezra's discomfort. "Our ride will be here soon and then we can go home."

"I'm tired," He said to her.

"You can't go to sleep, but you can rest until our ride gets here," Sabine replied as she moved to help Ezra lay his head on her lap and then continued trying to soothe him as best as she could.

Sabine allowed Ezra to rest for the next couple of hours, but also struggled with keeping him from falling asleep. That turned out to be quite the challenge as going to sleep seemed to be all he wanted to do, albeit with the caveat that she sleep next to him. He tried to use his head hurting as his justification, but that turned out to be the same exact argument Sabine used to explain why she couldn't let him go to sleep.

They continued with that type of banter until Sabine suddenly heard a speeder shutting down just outside the building. She couldn't be sure who it was and wasn't about to take any chances, aiming one of her blasters at the doorway. She even began to squeeze the trigger until realizing that it was Wini walking into the room.

Wini's eyes widened upon seeing the blaster pointed at her, raising her hands in surrender, but then she saw Ezra with his head lying on Sabine's lap. "Is he alright?" she asked.

"Pretty nasty concussion," Sabine answered, holstering her weapon. "He's complaining about a headache and got dizzy a few times too, but more recently, I also noticed his speech slurring."

"Then let's get him out of here so he can get some medical attention," Wini nearly growled as she knelt next to them and looked down at the still silent Jedi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well there it is, and yes, the weapon in question is what the Mandalorian. I wasn't sure if that weapon was used earlier than with Din or not, but I couldn't recall seeing it anywhere else. So, if that turned out to be the case, then I do apologize for missing it. We've officially ended the mission with this chapter and we're going to skip forward just a bit for the next installment. Hopefully, it will come to me a bit more smoothly than this last chapter did so that it won't take so long to complete.


	14. Crossing the Bridge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ezra and Sabine deal with the aftermath of the Arkania mission when things seem to be falling apart for Ezra and his efforts in the Rebellion.

Things had certainly been tense after Hera chose to suspend Ezra's command. The day had already gone poorly for Ezra, and that only added to it, putting him into a more sour mood. And Hera's decision combined with Ezra's managing to bite his tongue instead of arguing was making things feel a bit awkward. No one was saying anything as they all just stood there, but Kanan eventually spoke up, coaxing Ezra into following him somewhere, just the two of them. From there, everyone began to disperse but Sabine chose to stay put and wait for Ezra to return. She was reasonably sure that he'd be looking for her once Kanan finished with whatever he had to say.

As for Hera, initially, Sabine had been taken aback by how furious she was with Ezra for disobeying orders. After all, when it came to the Rebellion, disobeying orders was hardly anything new for any of them. Plans always seemed to be more of just guidelines for any mission, and Sabine wondered if perhaps the loss of the Phantom might have had more than a little to do with Hera's fiery decision. But then Sabine thought about how Hera had brought the entire Phoenix squadron fleet with her to ensure their escape and figured that certainly had to play a part too. Still, Ezra made a judgment call, at the time seeing that the bombers were being slagged left and right.

Had they done nothing but reconnaissance as ordered, then there wouldn't have been any bombers to liberate. Sabine couldn't fault Ezra for wanting to take action even though at the time she'd given him a hard time throughout with little lapses like needing to refuel the bombers. If the roles had been reversed, she couldn't say for certain that she wouldn't have made the same decision. Regardless, the missing hyperdrives were what actually caused the mission to go awry.

If the hyperdrives hadn't been removed, they all would've escaped, save for Ezra. In her opinion, it was almost a blessing that the hyperdrives had been removed because, in essence, that very well saved Ezra's life. For Sabine at least, losing the Phantom over a handful of bombers was a small price to pay. Ezra was too important to the Rebellion, to the Ghost crew, and more recently, to her.

And the brief thought of the Ghost crew brought her back to Kanan rejoining them. It almost felt like things might be getting back to normal again. It'd been so long since they'd all been together that Sabine had been doubting they'd ever be together as a family again, but now Kanan was back and they were whole again. She just hoped that it would be permanent for all of their sakes, but Ezra's especially.

The suspended command was just the most recent thing added to what had been a difficult time for the young Jedi, and no one had come to know that better than Sabine. She'd been forced to sit back as Ezra virtually tortured himself under the guise of training, although it did pay dividends in his strength both physically and through the Force, but the loss of his mentor for such an extended length of time was what weighed on him the most. Now she wondered how much that absence had strained things between teacher and student.

Ever since his injury, Kanan had distanced himself from everyone, and Ezra had been blaming himself for that just as much if not more than costing Ahsoka her life. Sabine recalled the amount of hurt she saw in Ezra's eyes whenever he would ask where Kanan was until he eventually stopped asking to save himself from it. Kanan certainly owed everyone an apology and Ezra should be first on that list. She hoped that was what Kanan was doing with Ezra and not putting his foot in his mouth to make things worse between them. They needed to begin healing together, and Kanan needed to make the first move.

* * *

"Why don't you have a seat?" Kanan suggested as he kneeled next to Ezra.

Ezra sighed in frustration but did drop down, kneeling next to Kanan. He'd gone along with Kanan to thank him for the save, but didn't want to be around anyone aside from perhaps Sabine at the moment. He was still incredibly angry about having his command suspended and needed some time to cool off, and he was seriously questioning why he didn't just leave. While he truly did appreciate Kanan coming back, the trust between the two of them had been damaged. Kanan hadn't been there when Ezra needed him for quite some time, and the one time he was there, he took away the only true source that had actually been helping him become stronger.

He didn't care about Kanan's beliefs concerning the use of the Sith Holocron. Kanan may believe that it was a trap as he'd said, but without Kanan being there to train him, Ezra felt like he had no other recourse. And during his training with the Sith artifact, he had become stronger. It had been helpful to him, and he chose to lean on his own experience with it as evidence to refute Kanan's belief. The only thing that he regretted and would cop to was that he hid it from everyone, but he had every intention of showing them all once he was strong enough to learn how to destroy the Sith. Then, he'd have all the proof that Kanan, that the Jedi were wrong. Ahsoka had been right. In order to defeat an enemy, first, you needed to know them.

"I can sense your doubt, Ezra," Kanan said, snapping the Padawan from his thoughts.

"It's just been a long day, Kanan," Ezra responded with a sigh as he stood up and dusted himself off. "Can we do this tomorrow?"

Kanan wanted to dissuade Ezra from leaving, but he also sensed how Ezra's frustration had as much to do with his absence as anything else. He needed to tread lightly for the time being. "Tomorrow then," he said and watched as Ezra didn't hesitate in walking away. That did hurt a little, knowing how close they'd been before and seeing for himself for the second time how damaged that relationship had become. That was what his self-imposed distance had done. It was his fault, and as such, his responsibility to repair. He'd splintered the relationships he had with each member of the Ghost crew in one way or another, and he needed to mend those relationships before anyone would be able to move forward positively.

For all of Kanan's abilities with being a Jedi, he still lacked greatly when it came to resolving emotional issues. It was something that most of the Jedi struggled with in attempting to maintain their inner balance, and because of this, he was going to need assistance to ensure he didn't stick his foot in his mouth. Fortunately, he knew the perfect person to help him out and it didn't take long to find her either.

After having to punish Ezra for his brash and unwise decisions, he knew that Hera would be in her ship for the rest of the evening, where she felt most comfortable in her skin. It hadn't been easy on Hera to punish Ezra, regardless of the lack of hesitating on suspending him. She took it personally when something undesirable happened to any member of the Ghost crew, but especially so with Sabine or Ezra. She'd really taken a liking to Ezra, just like she had with Sabine, and had to hate being the one to punish either of them, regardless of the justification. As such, Kanan found her, exactly where he knew she'd be, in the pilot's seat, clutching a fresh cup of caf as she stared off into the night sky through the viewport.

"That didn't take long," she commented before Kanan even got to the co-pilot's seat. "How did it go?"

"Ezra's still a little frustrated," Kanan answered. "And confused, apprehensive, the list goes on."

"Did you tell him that you don't blame him for what happened on Malachor?" Hera asked, taking her eyes off the sky to watch how Kanan would respond to the question, even though she already had a good idea about it.

At first, Kanan opened his mouth to say that Ezra didn't really give him the chance, but in reality, the topic was just never broached. "No," he eventually answered. "I didn't push the topic. Maybe I should have, but it didn't feel like it was the right time to touch on such a sensitive subject."

"After what I had to do, I think Ezra would've welcomed something a little uplifting, regardless of the topic." Hera pointed out. "If you didn't talk about Malachor, then what did you two talk about?"

"The Sith Holocron that Ezra's been using as part of his individual training," he replied.

"Ezra's been using that thing?" Hera asked in surprise.

"He was, "Kanan answered. At least, up until I took it from him before they left for that half-botched bomber mission. I caught him with it when I took your advice and went to talk to Ezra. He admitted to using it when I realized that he'd opened it. I would've told you earlier, but I knew I had to get it from him as soon as I could. and he was but he'd already been influenced by it and admitted to using what he learned from it to win several battles.

"What does that mean though, Kanan?"

"The best-case scenario would be that we're right back to where we were when Ezra accidentally tapped into the Dark side," Kanan explained. "But I wouldn't expect that to be the case. For starters, I could only guess how long Ezra's been influenced by that Holocron, and that's not even concerning compared to the fact that Ezra was knowingly using the Dark side this time. His willingness to use it is the more dangerous slope. If I were being honest, I'm afraid he's never been so close to being lost to us."

"So, what are you going to do?"

"I have to be careful here, Hera," Kanan answered. "Right now, he's filled with anger and fear, and I'm sure he's been using those feelings to tap into the Dark side. He's angry with me for pulling away and afraid of losing anyone else he holds close. If I'm not careful with how I approach this, there's a risk that he could continue slipping down that slope."

"Is there anything that I can do to help?" Hera asked, fearing any possibility of losing the young man who'd become like a son to her.

Kanan rubbed his bearded chin in contemplation. "Well, we could use his suspension to keep him from being on some of the more risky or incendiary missions in the near future. That will give me more opportunities to work with him and rebuilt some of the trust I've lost. Regardless, we need to take advantage of the opportunity this last mission presented for us."

"What was that?" Hera asked, beginning to wonder if she'd only helped encourage Ezra to go down the dangerous path he'd been taking without a Jedi to guide him. She'd been blinded by his overwhelming growth and success for the Rebellion and was beating herself up for not thinking he was being anything more than a hormonal teenager.

"Ezra tried to justify using the Holocron, telling me how the Holocron helped him succeed with mission after mission," Kanan explained. "And we may have caught a break with him experiencing failure this time, it could bring in some doubt about the actual effectiveness of the Dark side. If that turns out to be the case, we need to take advantage of this window of opportunity the Force has provided.

* * *

"Hey!" Sabine called out when she spotted Ezra stomping away with a thumper in hand. For whatever reason, Ezra didn't respond, so she jogged up beside him, gently bumping shoulders with him. "Where are you off to?"

"To start the beginning of my suspension," Ezra grumbled, continuing to march forward without even looking at her.

"Want some company?" Sabine offered. "We could take my speeder if you want."

At that suggestion, Ezra did pause briefly before turning to look at her. "I'm not sure I'd be good company right now, Sabine," he said.

She heard his warning but it wasn't a no, so Sabine decided that she would come along. "That's alright," she responded. "I'll grab some paint and blankets, maybe some caf, and then we can head out. You can talk until you're blue in the face or say absolutely nothing at all."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Ezra said, knowing that Sabine would just follow him out anyway if he tried to argue with her.

Sabine smiled as she grabbed Ezra by the hand, pulling him back in the direction of the Ghost. She knew of a spot that looked brilliant in the moonlight and would be a perfect scene to capture in a piece of artwork. In Ezra's current mood, Sabine decided it would be best to have him wait outside while she grabbed the materials she would need. It only ended up taking a couple of minutes to gather everything, as her paints were always ready to go and it looked like Hera had recently made a fresh pot of caf, with only a couple of cups worth missing. Sabine placed the rest into a travel container and started another pot before she grabbed a couple of blankets and headed back out.

While Ezra did let her gather everything from inside the Ghost, he wasn't about to have her doing everything. So, as soon as Sabine exited the ship, he immediately took the supplies she'd gathered and begun stowing them away. That turned out to be a bit of a challenge though as the speeder didn't have an abundance of storage space, but he managed to pack everything away by using some ingenuity where he could. To save some space, Ezra used the blankets as extra seat cushioning as well as wrapping the thumper toward the back of the seat. That ended up being just enough for him to squeeze Sabine's canvas on board.

Throughout the entire trip, Ezra remained quiet, not even commenting on the scenery once they arrived. Sabine wasn't expecting a response, but she had hoped that he'd at least open up a little by the time they arrived. As it stood, his silence was telling her that he was more emotionally charged than she'd anticipated, causing her wonder if Kanan had done what she feared and only ended up adding to Ezra's frustration.

He still kept up his silence while Sabine set out her canvas and paints, and that was when she'd had enough of it. "So, are you going to stop sulking and tell me what happened?" She asked.

"You were there," Ezra pointed out as if she should have known.

"I meant between you and Kanan," Sabine explained as she put the first of many brush strokes to canvas.

"Not much," Ezra told her, figuring it would be best to just tell her outright. "Just some Jedi stuff that would probably bore you."

"So now you think you know what would bore me?" Sabine teasingly asked.

"No," Ezra quickly responded before beginning to pace as his thoughts returned to that short meeting with Kanan and how best to tell Sabine. "It's just… he doesn't agree with how I've been training all this time without him. He said that there's a better way, and I'm not sure I believe him. I mean, up until this last mission, I've only been getting better and better. Then just when I have this one mission go badly, he comes back and tells me that I've been doing it all wrong."

"Maybe Kanan's right and there is a better way, Ezra" Sabine offered. "I mean, sure, you've had some success in leading missions, but no mission is ever perfect. You have to know that there's always room for improvement, and you also have to admit that Kanan was there when you truly needed him this time."

"Yeah," Ezra dejectedly admitted. "You're right. Without Kanan and Hera, you all would've been captured and I would've died on that station. And I did thank him for coming back, but... It's just that… things can't go back to the way they were and I think that's what Kanan wants."

Ezra's frustration was beginning to become more and more evident as he continued to look for the right words. Sabine had hoped to be painting by now, but Ezra's dilemma was more important and there would be other sunsets to paint. "No one is saying that things have to go back to the way they were, Ezra," she explained as she got in his way to stop his pacing. "You had to grow and he wasn't here to mentor you. That's on Kanan and he's going to have to accept it. But you're not done growing yet either. None of us are, and that's where you can choose to keep learning from Kanan or continue learning on your own. Just know that whichever way you decide, I'll support it."

Ezra almost told her that Kanan also removed his way of learning, but held his tongue. He didn't want them to know that he'd been using the Dark side. At least, not without a strong enough case to support his way was the correct one. Besides, Kanan had taken the Holocron and there was no point mentioning something that wasn't even an option. Maybe if he could find out what Kanan had done with it, and retrieve it, then he would open up to Sabine about it. He figured she did deserve to know if he could continue down that path. After all, she'd been nothing but supportive of him ever since they returned from Arkania.

* * *

_There was some subtle bickering that could be heard coming from the transport as soon as the ramp opened up, allowing Hera the chance to lay eyes on the younger two of her Ghost crew. They'd just returned from their undercover mission, and from the sound of things, it hadn't gone very smoothly. Hera easily made out Sabine's voice among a few others, and it sounded like whatever disagreement they were having was winding down._

_It was almost enough to take the surprise away when Hera noticed Ezra being helped out of the transport. Almost. "What happened?" She asked, rushing forward to check on the young Jedi._

_Sabine looked over at Hera as she continued to support Ezra. "Concussion," she answered. "We're taking Ezra to the med bay for treatment."_

_Hera fell in step, the mission forgotten by her for the moment, but not really for other members of command. "So, the mission was a failure?" Commander Sato questioned._

_"_ _Yes," Gavyn announced, but Sabine also responded at the same time with a differing opinion._

_"_ _The mission was successful," was her answer, and she didn't stop there. "The weapon was identified, and the plans along with all prototypes were destroyed."_

_"_ _But the weapon designer isn't going to cooperate," Gavyn argued._

_While Hera was occupied with Ezra's condition, she still heard what was said and knew that she needed to step in. "Sabine, I'll get Ezra to the medical wing. You should stay with the rest of Command and hash this out to ensure the mission report is accurate."_

_Sabine hesitated for a moment, not wanting to leave Ezra's side but knew she had a responsibility to relay accurate information to the Rebellion, and it was obvious that Gavyn was going to give his opinion of the situation instead of facts. Which meant she had to stay behind. "Fine," she relented. "But let me know as soon as you hear anything."_

_"_ _You have my word," Hera said before glancing over at a friend of Ezra's for help. "Wini, help me with Ezra, would you?"_

_Wini was a bit surprised and hesitated at first. "Um, sure," Wini eventually responded before moving over to Ezra's side and helping to carry him off._

_Sabine wasn't sure what came over her but she very nearly growled as soon as Wini went over to Ezra. It took quite a bit of effort to look away, but when she did, she saw that Sato waiting expectantly for her attention. "Miss Wren, if you would, please enlighten me as to the confusion coming from your team," he said as he pointed in the direction of the Command Center._

_She followed quietly behind the commander, with Gavyn and the rest of the crew following along with her. Things had already been contentious the entire trip back from Arkania, and Gavyn seemed to be continuing with that trend. It had more to do with his insecurities and the dashed hope he had of any form of a romantic relationship with her, but she wasn't about to let his emotions get in the way of the truth._

_Instead, as she ventured over to the command center, she formulated a plan of action. By the time they all arrived, she was more than prepared for whatever Gavyn or anyone else for that matter might try to say. Gavyn hadn't lied about the weapon designer having any interest in joining the Rebellion, but he left out the part about them agreeing to be hidden away from the Empire. The agreement was based on them not selling the weapon design to the Empire in exchange for transport to a planet not under complete Empirical control. The only real hanging point was them refusing to promise that the weapon would not be produced in the future, but that was something the Rebellion was just going to have to accept._

_The conversation ended up going how Sabine had anticipated. She was also able to counter all of the sticking points Gavyn tried to provide, and eventually, he let it go. Fortunately, only Ezra and she knew the exact reason how they'd been spotted by the Empire, and she was able to satisfy Sato with the overall success of the mission's objective._

_From there, Sabine didn't waste any time heading over to the medical wing. She didn't have to look hard to find Ezra, as there was a group of people around him, still running tests. She then spotted Hera standing off to the side a bit and made her way over to the Ghost Captain. One person she didn't see, however, was Wini._

_"_ _They're still confirming how serious the concussion is," Hera said when she sensed the Mandalorian girl coming up to her side._

_"_ _It seemed pretty bad at the time," Sabine explained._

_"_ _What happened?"_

_And that was the big money question. Of course, had anyone else have asked it, Sabine wouldn't have given a straight answer, but this was Hera. One of the very few people who Sabine truly trusted AND respected. Hera had been the closest thing to a mother ever since she'd been forced to leave her planet and her real family. Besides, it was hard to lie to the Twi'lek. Hera always seemed to know when any member of the Ghost crew wasn't being honest with her._

_"_ _It's kind of a long story," she offered, hoping that Hera wouldn't push for details, but the look she received dashed any hope of that._

_"_ _Let's head to the Ghost and talk."_

_Sabine didn't answer to the suggestion/order she received, but she did follow beside Hera, the two of them walking out of the medical wing and to their portable home. They both remained silent the entire time, right up until the door to the Ghost cockpit slid shut, with Hera locking it immediately after. "Alright," she said, turning her attention squarely on Sabine. "Spill."_

_Sabine released a sigh, still not looking forward to such a conversation, but she did as she was asked and told Hera what happened. She did her best not to leave anything out, even including some of what Ezra had told her about that first night since she had no recollection of what transpired. Hera didn't interrupt her as she explained everything, just nodded and occasionally gestured for Sabine to continue whenever she became hung up on what to say. She managed not to say a word until when Sabine finished with the argument aboard the transport._

_"_ _Well, now it makes sense why Wini seemed like she couldn't wait to leave the medical wing," Hera said, crossing her arms. "The last time Ezra was hurt, she was rarely anywhere except by his side."_

_"_ _I'll have to try and clear up any confusion she has about that," Sabine said. "It would've made things easier if Gavyn had kept his opinion to himself though."_

_"_ _I agree, and I'll talk to him about that if you want," Hera offered._

_"_ _No," Sabine said. "It's my mess and I'll get it cleaned up, one way or another."_

_"_ _Fair enough," Hera said. "But if you need any help, you know the door is always open."_

_"_ _Thanks, Hera," Sabine replied, but as she stood to leave, the Twi'lek indicated that they weren't quite done yet._

_Hera stood as well and placed a hand on Sabine's shoulder. "That includes with Ezra too, Sabine," Hera said. "He deserves to know where he stands too."_

_"_ _Hera, I've.."_

_"_ _No Sabine," Hera interrupted. "I know what you've said in the past, but if everything happened the way you just described to me, Ezra is a part of that mess you need to clean up. If you only think of him as a teammate or a friend, then you need to have that conversation with him. But if you do have stronger feelings for him than you've let on up until this last mission, then I think you owe it to yourself as much as you owe it to him. Just be honest with him. Whatever that might mean for the two of you."_

_Sabine wasn't about to confirm one way or the other how she felt, but she did want to settle Hera's mind with an honest answer. "I'll get this all straightened up, Hera. You have my word."_

* * *

_It took Sabine two days to finally locate Wini in a position where they could talk openly. AP-5 happened to be the only one with her when Sabine made her move, and he wouldn't care about anything they had to say unless it was about inventorying. "AP, would you mind giving Wini and me a moment?"_

_"_ _Actually, I would." The droid dryly responded. "The completed inventory manifest is already well behind schedule as it is, and any further delay would…"_

_"_ _Just, do it anyway," Sabine interrupted, causing the droid to grumble about how inefficiently the Rebellion was being run, but he did move away from the two of them. Sabine stood, watching Wini looking a little anxious until the droid was far enough away to give them the privacy Sabine needed, and with a deep initial breath, she dove right into the fray "I think we should talk."_

_"_ _Why?" Wini snorted at her. "It seems pretty obvious to me. I got too close to your Jedi toy, and you stepped up your game to steal his attention back."_

_"_ _I what!?" Sabine nearly shouted before she tried to calm herself to maintain what little composure she had left. "Look, Wini, I think you got some bad information, and you need to hear the truth about what happened."_

_"_ _No, I don't," Wini fired right back, taking Sabine by surprise with her angry, aggressive stance. "The only thing that needs to be made clear here is that I'm not backing off. I really like Ezra, and if you think I'm going to just let you keep playing with his emotions like you have for so long, then you're only fooling yourself."_

_"_ _I haven't been playing with his emotions!" Sabine argued, but that only caused Wini to laugh at her._

_"_ _Oh please," Wini replied. "You've had that boy wrapped around your finger for as long as he's known you. You might have told him a few times that you weren't interested, but every time someone else gets close to him, your actions say more than your words ever could. It's always a mission, or during training, and it's so obvious to everyone around the two of you. But I saw what it was doing to him and I think he deserves better."_

_Sabine wanted to continue arguing her case, but something Wini said struck her and took the fight out of her. "You're right," she eventually said in a somber tone. "Ezra does deserve something more than I've ever given him."_

_"_ _And I want to give that to him," Wini responded with total conviction. "So, since you don't want to be the person to give him what he deserves, then why don't you do him a favor and just step out of the way?"_

_"_ _I.." Sabine started to say, but she didn't know how to respond to that. She hated to admit it, but Wini was right again. If she didn't want to be that person with Ezra, then she should step out of the way and let someone else try to make Ezra happy. The only problem was, she'd begun to realize that she wanted to be that person._

* * *

Outside the base, Ezra eventually managed to calm down, mostly thanks to Sabine's friendly ear and outsider's perspective. Then she managed to get in some painting while Ezra meditated until the night air became chilly enough for the paint to dry. At that point, they huddled together, using the blanket Ezra had already laid out beforehand. Sabine added a second blanket around the two of them, forcing them to be quite close under the guise of added warmth. Neither one of them brought it up, but both knew that they weren't actually that cold.

As they quietly stared up into the night sky, Sabine was lost in her thoughts over what had been happening. She still couldn't wrap her mind around just how close they'd gotten or how natural it felt to her. There was still one thing though that she wasn't comfortable with yet even though she really shouldn't be surprised. It was her decision after all to give romance between them a chance, and times like the one they were currently in was where she struggled mightily with. They hadn't even held hands yet, let alone done anything else, and it was all because of her.

Meanwhile, Ezra eagerly accepted any conditions Sabine laid out, including that this remains strictly between the two of them. When it came to the Rebellion or in public, he had to promise that he would act like nothing had changed between them. Initially, she did feel a bit guilty buy Ezra wasn't about to push, and simply put, she just wasn't ready for that yet. A part of her struggle was the aftermath of everything that occurred on Arkania, but she knew that was more of an excuse more than anything else.

Sabine knew she couldn't just keep things as they were. It wasn't fair to Ezra and her confrontation with Wini had her thoughts on how she wanted Ezra to have everything he deserved. What he didn't deserve was an emotionally crippled girl, even though that's what he had currently. She considered herself fortunate that he was content with what he was getting from her, but that surely wouldn't last. Eventually, he would want more between them, and when that time came, she wondered and hoped that she'd be ready. And with that thought, she happened a glance over to Ezra, only to see him looking right back at her. "What is it?" She asked.

"I was just wondering what you were thinking about," Ezra answered with a playful smile.

"I was thinking about us, actually," Sabine honestly responded. "About how far we've come and how patient you've been with me."

Ezra smiled at Sabine's words. "Well, you know better than most that I've always wanted to be with you Sabine," he said. "But I have to admit, I was beginning to think that you'd never change your mind about us. I couldn't be happier that you did change your mind though. And I don't have any problems going as slow as you want, so long as you're comfortable with us."

"But I don't think I'm being fair to you, Ezra," she explained. "You deserve so much more than I've given you."

"Hey," Ezra said as he rolled over to face Sabine directly and placed his hand lovingly against her cheek. "Being with you is everything I've ever hoped to have ever since we first met."

Sabine smiled at his kind words and hesitated for a moment, but then decided to take a step forward, even if it was just a small one. She turned her head and pressed her lips against the palm of his hand, gently kissing him. Ezra nearly pulled his hand away in shock at first but he realized that Sabine had kissed his hand intentionally. Her lips were soft against his skin and he savored the feel of it, hoping for more, but afraid to do press.

She kissed his palm three more times before turning again and looking into Ezra's eyes, only to see that Ezra was fixated on her. He almost seemed to be mesmerized, which made her smile. It was the same look that Zeb or even Rex teased him about whenever they caught him staring for too long. Back then, it was annoying, but now it was flattering. She even thought about taking another step because of it, maybe something like sharing their first real kiss, but then her comm pinged at an incoming message. And they both knew that it was time for them to return to camp.

* * *

Going along with their usual plan of returning to base, Ezra took the speeder back after dropping Sabine off outside the Ghost. They'd been successful at not getting caught so far, but as soon as Sabine climbed the ladder to take her up to the personal quarters, Kanan was there, waiting for her outside her cabin door.

"If it's alright, I'd like to speak with you about Ezra." He said to her.

"What about him?" She asked, trying to come off as indifferent to the older Jedi.

"There are some things I need you to be aware of if you plan to continue being with him in any romantic capacity," Kanan explained. Sabine instantly started to deny anything was happening, but Kanan quickly raised his hand to stop her. "I sensed the change between you two. Ezra's good at masking his emotions, even from me, but he wasn't ready for the excitement inside when you told him about your feelings changing."

Upon hearing his explanation, Sabine's shoulders drooped in resignation. There was no argument for the Jedi's senses regarding his Padawan, so she gestured for him to lead the way, and followed Kanan back out of the Ghost. Kanan walked in silence over to an area where they could have some privacy and then turned to face the Mandalorian girl.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I told you not to continue being with Ezra," he started. "But you need to know that there's a danger that comes with dating a Force-sensitive being at all. And one like Ezra, who's been slipping down a dangerous path, you need to be extra cautious with."

"What are you talking about, Kanan?" Sabine asked.

"He's been using the Sith Holocron, which is a direct path to the Dark side," Kanan answered. "He's been slowly succumbing to it in exchange for quick results to grow stronger, and that's been destroying the boy you've come to know."

"I don't get it," Sabine said, thoroughly confused. "I mean, I know he's changed but everyone has, Kanan. And yes, he has become stronger with the Force very quickly, but I don't see how that could be a bad thing. I've seen him do some amazing things to help us succeed with mission after mission, and with everything I've seen, Ezra's remained the same good person. He's never done or said anything that would lead me to believe he could ever become something like those Inquisitors we've run into."

"It's about his fear, Sabine," Kanan explained. "You need to understand where a Jedi draws their strength from compared to a Sith. The Sith relies on emotions like anger, fear, or hatred and uses those emotions to tap into the Force. Whereas a Jedi relies on controlling themselves and their emotions, to work with the Force. When you're driven by your emotions, you're more unstable and more easily can lose control. Which means you lose who you are and who you're supposed to be. Ezra is afraid of losing anyone else he cares about, and that's what has driven him into the Dark side. So, the closer you get with Ezra, the more he could let his fear consume him. If that happens, then we could very well lose the Ezra you know completely."

This wasn't at all what Sabine wanted to hear. Not after they'd finally taken that important plunge. If Kanan was going to ask her to leave Ezra, this wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation at all.

"Are you saying that it might be best for Ezra and I to stop seeing each other?" She asked, wanting a direct answer from Kanan.

"I'm not saying that at all," Kanan answered. "All I am saying is that you need to be careful and help ensure that he doesn't give in to his fears and anger."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can we say cliffhanger? I apologize in advance to all those who may have thought, "finally", for Ezra and Sabine becoming officially a couple, albeit an interesting couple. Of course, we still have Sabine's intimacy issues that come with being a Mandalorian warrior, but then I just couldn't help myself with throwing in a warning from Kanan because of how close Ezra was to actually succumbing to the Dark side. I really think he was a lot closer in the show than they portrayed, and I think it's one area where they dropped the ball a little bit.
> 
> Also, I know that I made mention of Wini here, and no, she is not just going to go away even though Sabine and Ezra are secretly dating. The important part though is that the Holocron is with Bendu, just as it went with the show, so no more direct influence from it (but I can't guarantee Ezra won't suffer from some withdrawal issues along the way).
> 
> Up next, Ezra and Sabine continue to traverse through everything that comes with being in a relationship while dealing with the Rebellion and Ezra's slow return from the Dark side's influence.


End file.
